The Liberal Party has nominated their candidate for the Lakeland riding.
Garry Parenteau, Oil and Gas Director with the Fishing Lake Metis Settlement, has been nominated to run for the party, with the election one and a half months away.
Parenteau has served as an elected administrator in the Metis community as the Chairperson of the Fishing Lake Metis Settlement, President of the Metis Settlements General Council, and from 2004-2011 as the representative of the Metis Settlements General Council to the federal government. He has also served as Vice President of Finance for the Liberal Party of Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples Commission from 2000 to 2003.
He says his experience will help his campaign.
“I can bring to the campaign a vast knowledge of the Aboriginal communities that we have in this newly-aligned constituency,” Parenteau said. “I have a wealth of knowledge in travelling the whole constituency. Having worked presently in the oil and gas industry, I have that knowledge as well. Looking at the experience that I have in this constituency and also travelling across this great land of ours, Alberta and Canada, I’ve seen the various economics and the various lifestyles that we have across this great country, it’s just a matter of how we fit into it, and how we continue to be productive in this area.
Parenteau says the most pressing issue in the riding is the slump in oil and gas, and that a Liberal government has a plan to deal with that.
“[The Liberals would be] looking at stabilizing the ups and downs, the peaks and the valleys that we have in the oil and gas industry,” Parenteau said. “Making sure that we do have a market. Of course you know very well that the Keystone pipeline is one of the major issues that’s out there, and the Keystone would provide a fair market and a reasonable market for us, and keep the production of oil and gas at a steady flow.”
Parenteau also says he supports Liberal leader Justin Trudeau’s plan to grow the middle class.
The election is on October 19th.