Ten questions with Adam Tremblay, Saskatchewan NDP candidate for Lloydminster

With over a decade in teaching, Adam Tremblay works to find solutions and is not one to sit on the fence as the Paradise Hill teacher contests the Lloydminster riding for the Saskatchewan NDP.

Question 1: Who are you? 

Tremblay: I’m a teacher. I love my job. I’ve been teaching at a couple of different rural schools. I’m teaching everything that starts with “S” – shop, social, and science. 

Question 2: Why do you want to be an MLA? 

Tremblay: The big reason is education. I’ve been teaching for 10 years. I know what things were like when I started and what they are like now. We were in first place in educational funding, and we are in last place now. I feel that in my classroom. The relationship between parents, teachers, students, and the government has been fractured from what happened with contract negotiations. We need to repair that relationship and that’s what motivated me to come off the sidelines. 

Question 3: Comment on the fact that arbitration between teachers and their employer has been pushed to after the election. 

Tremblay: It’s a process that has to play itself out. Arbitration is set to go in December. Obviously, we are going to wait and see what happens there. Personally, I’m glad to see some kind of resolution. I know my students are comforted by the fact that they don’t have to worry about any major disruptions. 

Question 4: What is your platform? 

Tremblay: My primary focus is what we are offering for education. We are talking a $2 billion generational investment in education over the next four years. And that’s going to give our teachers, students, and schools the kind of predictable funding that they need to get us out of last place in education. Our school boards won’t have to debate and discuss what to cut, but they can start to think of what we can add back in. 

Question 5: What is your plan for the riding? 

Tremblay: My plan is getting out there. Pound the pavement. Talk to as many people as I can. You will be surprised how many people just want to be listened to and heard. They feel they are not getting that with their current representation. And there is a feeling out there that it’s time for a change. 

Question 6: What is your plan to deal with homelessness and the unhoused? 

Tremblay: There is no one thing that we can do to magically make this go away. It’s going to be a couple of things we are going to have to try. Take for instance the Lloydminster Men’s Shelter. Maybe we have to look at giving them more funding so that they can provide more services to help people. It also falls back on our healthcare system because it’s through healthcare that people can access mental health and addiction services. There is also the issue of affordability. Things are expensive right now and being able to alleviate some of that pressure on affordability, whether it’s through – we want to suspend the gas tax on day one, if we win on Oct. 28. We also, want to remove the PST and help affordability on things like food. And helping people to have access to things like food banks. 

Question 7: What is your plan to deal with crime and insecurity? 

Tremblay: There is more that we can do as a province. Something as simple as requesting more RCMP officers. Investing more in our local police and making sure that they are better supported. I’ve talked to RCMP officers, and they are stretched very thin. I don’t think that investing $20 million into a Marshalls Service that doesn’t even have any boots on the ground yet and probably won’t for a while is necessarily the only option we need to look at. But we are going to get tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime. 

Question 8: What are your thoughts on healthcare? 

Tremblay: We are in last place among all the provinces. And it is the Sask Party who broke our healthcare system. We are putting forward a plan to address those issues. The people who work on the frontline – they know how best to fix it. And that’s something they have asked for numerous times from this government. We have committed to making a health human resources roundtable to hear directly from our healthcare workers on how best to fix the system. Same thing goes with the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses which asked specifically for a nursing task force to improve the issues in nursing. It does not cost a whole lot of money to listen to the concerns of the people who are most affected by it and how to fix it. And a generational investment of $1.1 billion over four years into healthcare. 

Also, Tremblay speaking to Lloydminster Concerned Citizens for Seniors Care said the Sask NDP will appoint a seniors’ advocate, expand and improve healthcare and home supports, and create a bill of rights for seniors in the province. 

Question 9: What are your thoughts on the economy in the riding and provincially? 

Tremblay: There are parts of the Saskatchewan economy – they do well. But one thing we have seen slip, especially under the Sask Party in the last 17 years is our small business – the backbone of our economy. A strong small business is going to help make our economy stronger and is going to give people a lot more economic opportunity through those small businesses.  We are going to guarantee that we are not going to raise taxes. And that includes the small business tax that is set to double under the Sask Party this coming year. being able to freeze that tax and support our small businesses through our Small Business Initiative Loan – that’s going to help those businesses and make them stronger. 

Question 10: Final thoughts 

Tremblay: Folks around here are tired of being in last place and I want to be that change for them. I realize that Colleen Young has been here for a long time and unseating her is not an easy task.