Prince Albert’s Conservative incumbent kicks off federal election campaign

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This story originally appeared in the Prince Albert Daily Herald. It’s paid for through Local Journalism Initiative funding and shared under a Creative Commons licence.

Incumbent Member of Parliament and Conservative Party of Canada candidate for the Prince Albert riding Randy Hoback officially kicked off his campaign on Saturday.

Hoback spoke to supporters before cutting a ribbon to officially open his office. Hoback said he’s been busy since the writ dropped for the April 28 federal election.

“We have been out putting signs this last week, we have been out talking to our volunteers and our base,” he said. “The snowstorm kind of threw us off guard a little bit but we’re plugging away.”

Hoback’s constituency changed with boundary redrawing. The new boundaries do not include Carrot River, but gained Debden, Big River, Chitek Lake, Candle Lake, Christopher Lake and Waskesiu.

“(We are) making sure that we’ve got new volunteers that we’re getting to know in that area,” Hoback said. “(There’s) lots to be done and we’re actively on the ground doing it.”

Prince Albert has been a strong Conservative area in the past. Voters have supported a Conservative, Canadian Alliance, or Reform Party candidate in every election since 1997.

Hoback is confident that trend will continue.

“People really want to see a Conservative government. There’s no question about that,” he said said.

“This is a strong Conservative area. They want to see change.”

Hoback has been the incumbent since 2008 and is entering his fifth election in the riding. He says the election issues are similar to before the writ dropped.

“We can’t get our resources to market, where we can’t get our products to the places that want them, and we’ve seen a decline in our ports,” Hoback said. “We’ve seen a decline in our standard of living when it looks at the global standard, so these are new policies that have to come back into light, and we’ve got a game plan to address those.”

He said the entire country has issues with regards to trade barriers.

“Every area has its own priorities, no question about that,” Hoback said. “If you’re looking at Atlantic Canada, fisheries is a very important course in Atlantic Canada. Well, fisheries is facing the same problems as our canola growers. They’ve been excluded out of the market in China as well, and that’s going to hurt them to the detriment of their own success, too.”

Hoback said that even though the Liberal Party has a new leader in Mark Carney, the same problems from the last decade of government exist.

“They fight for themselves and take care of themselves,” Hoback said. “They don’t take care of the country as a whole. They’re more focused on taking care of Liberals than taking care of Canadians.”

Hoback was the Shadow Minister for International Trade before Parliament was prorogued and then dissolved with the writ drop. With the focus on the election moved to external issues like tariff threats from United States President Donald Trump, Hoback says he understands the broader issues.

The problem is there’s no certainty with what action Trump will take next, he says.

“I don’t think anybody can anticipate, but one thing we do know and what we can control is we’ve got certain flaws in our economy that need to be fixed,” Hoback said. “Our competitiveness needs to be fixed.”

He says Canada should work to broaden its trade networks.

“Having things in place (where) we’re not solely relying on the U.S., so you can actually export to other parts of the world, having [a] game plan to do that, those are things that need to be done that haven’t been done,” he said.

During his speech, Hoback encouraged people in the riding to get the message to their friends in eastern Canada and other parts of the country who may vote for the incumbent party.

“What you’ve got in different parts of Canada is fear,” Hoback said. “They’re scared of their jobs. They’re scared of their future. They don’t know what it means. You’ve got to remind people that, first of all, we’ve got good safety nets here in Canada. We’ve got structures in place that help people if they should lose their job. We have to make sure that they’re there, and Pierre has been very clear that we are going to be there for them.”

Hoback is in one of three candidates who have declared their intention to run in Prince Albert. Virginia Kutzan will run for the NDP, while Chris Hadubiak will run for the Liberals.

Election Day is April 28.