Larry Ingram will be representing the Liberal Party in the upcoming by-election for Battlefords-Lloydminster.
Ingram says his past work experience including serving on the RM of Mervin Council has made him well aware of the issues affecting the Battlefords-Lloydminster area and what is needed from the Federal Government.
“Putting money into the replacement of the lagoon centres, putting [money] into renewable resources. I’ve been involved with highways and the rail line enough that I realize the rail line falls under federal jurisdiction and highways fall under provincial and a lot of the road infrastructure in our area is in a bad state and we don’t have as much railway as we could be utilizing either like we used to have.”
One of the issues Ingram looks to focus on is the carbon tax.
“It’s not actually a tax, it’s a method of getting incentive to get people off of [carbon] to some degree.”
He goes on to say, “one thing that I was hoping would be in place by now that those people who wanted to grow trees for an economic base would actually be getting compensated for that land that’s in trees that they planted, fast growing trees for carbon capturing, that would be a really significant incentive for our area.”
Ingram adds he would like to work on relationships with First Nations.
“I feel like we need to be more on the same page with instead of having this rivalry between the First Nations and the settlers or the white people. The concept is harsh, but what we’re living in right now seems to be not working as good as if we were on the same page.”
Mental health issues are another focus for Ingram as he lost his son to suicide.
“Our federal government has really initiated high amounts of money to the provinces and have signed agreements with the provinces to initiate treatment and just make it so it’s not such a hidden issue.”
Ingram goes on to say he’s pursued a resolution to go forward to the province that once a person is put on an anti-depressant, the next of kin is notified.
“I believe if that were to happen a lot more people would be knowledgeable and understand the issues and because by losing a significant part of my family, it’s been very hard on me but at the same time I look at it and think if I can help somebody else so they aren’t in the same situation it would really be a positive thing.”
Although the Conservatives have held this seat for the past 20 years, Ingram believes this could change after the party selected Rosemarie Falk to represent them.
“I feel personally what the Conservatives have done in this constituency in the past week was a pretty significant insult not only to conservative voters of this constituency but to all of us in general; that they feel that they could put someone who isn’t local and just say ‘okay this is going to be your candidate and you people who think you’re good enough to be our candidate, well we just don’t think you make the grade.’ I think that is a really harsh insult to all of us in the constituency and to the country. Since that has happened, I would think that has made this to be a very different set of parameters for this election.”
The NDP and Green parties have not selected a candidate. They have until November 20 to do so. The Goat has reached out to Falk for an interview. The by-election takes place on December 11.
