Western alienation and affordability top the list of concerns for Swift Current voters

This sign welcomes drivers heading into Swift Current’s downtown.

Under a vast prairie sky, voters in Swift Current, Sask., tend not to talk about politics, especially when they bowl.

“We’re just here to have a good time,” said Jackie Coward, who’s been bowling since she moved from the farm six years ago.

A windy, warm, spring day signals the end of the winter bowling season at The Social Bowl – a popular hangout in the community of more than 18,000 people. It’s the last day of play for the seniors in the Club 55 League before the group breaks for the summer.

Like her game, Coward tries not to dwell on the rising cost of living.

“Just, ‘Oh well, maybe tomorrow will be better,‘” she said.

Affordability and the cost of groceries are issues she’d like the next federal government to address.

“I really watch what I have to buy. It’s just gone crazy,” she said.

Teagan Gader knows firsthand the devastating impacts rising costs can have on small businesses. She owned the local dry-cleaning shop until 18 months ago when they were forced to shutter due to high taxes and lingering effects from the pandemic.

Gader owns and operates The Social Bowl. She hopes the business doesn’t face a similar fate as the dry cleaner.

“Our customers feel it. We feel it,” said Gader, adding they’ve had to raise prices on everything from lane fees and shoes to food and booze.

“I get charged 21 per cent between the liquor tax, GST and PST. I mean, that all adds up.”

Affordability is Gader’s main concern this federal election. When you factor in the uncertainty of tariffs, she says small businesses face an uphill battle.

“It makes it hard to make any money,” she said.

John Friesen is the oldest one in the bowling league, turning 100 years old in September. He’s not too concerned about the high cost of living.

“We’ve always had a good government here. They give good pensions,” he said.

“I have nothing to complain about in this country.”

He views federal politics like he views bowling – no complaints. He threw five consecutive strikes in his last game of the season.

Friesen plans to vote like he’s done his entire life. Besides his pension, he’s focused on a better future for his children and grandchildren.

“We just have to try and get the people in that we feel do the best for us,” he said.

West versus East

The city, nicknamed Speedy Creek, sits along the Trans-Canada Highway in southwest Saskatchewan. A 230-km river flows through it.

A person can drive from one end of the city to the other in about seven minutes.

Blocks away from The Social Bowl, some people walking downtown told us they don’t vote. Living in a conservative stronghold, they said they can already predict the outcome for their riding.

Others like Caroll Wallace don’t think their vote matters in a first-past-the-post voting system, since Saskatchewan has very few seats compared to Ontario and Quebec.

“The election is over when it passes Ontario. We don’t have anything to say about the election. We have an interest, but it’s over by the time Ontario votes,” Wallace said.

That’s one of the reasons the West feels left behind, she said, and it’s why she’d like to see electoral reform a priority for the next federal government.

“There are feelings of western alienation in this part of the province,” Switzer said.

Voters feel “helpless,” he said, especially when they elect members of parliament who are not part of the governing party.

Whoever leads the country after April 28, Switzer hopes more federal dollars will be doled out to improve community infrastructure.

“The big issue right now is recreational facilities,” he said.

“We have an aging aquatic facility that has been good to our community. But it’s old and it’s tired.”

And if there’s hope for a building on its last legs, Switzer says there is hope the community can make it through these uncertain times.

“It’s a small place but it punches above its weight, and to me, I will unabashedly say Swift Current is the best place in Saskatchewan.”