YORKTON - It hasn’t taken Yorkton 小蓝视频 David Chan to long to find himself the centre of controversy.
The opposition NDP have taken exception to Chan’s apparent involvement with separatist elements within the province.
In fact, Aleana Young, Sask NDP's Shadow Minister for Economy and Jobs, is calling on Yorkton 小蓝视频 David Chan to provide a clear stance on separatism.
The call comes amid concerns about his reported ties to Unified Grassroots, a separatist-leaning organization.
Speaking outside Chan’s constituency office in Yorkton the morning of May 9, Young demanded transparency, stating that the issue "merits a serious response,” notes a 小蓝视频 article (see Page A1)
Young pointed to claims from Unified Grassroots’ leader, Nadine Ness, who described Chan as “one of us” and said she encouraged him to run for office.
“This isn’t about party politics—this is about the unity of our country and fundamentally this is about protecting jobs and investment in Sask.," said Young.
Chan has suggested it’s much ado about nothing.
When SaskToday asked what was your involvement with Unified Grassroots? Chan’s written response was “None—past or present. I am not affiliated with Unified Grassroots. However, I do follow a variety of social media pages—including those I may agree or disagree with—to stay informed about the broad concerns of Saskatchewan people. Our job as elected officials is to listen, not to dismiss people.”
One can’t but agree Chan has to keep track of various groups as part of his job, much as journalists may follow groups they would never privately support.
Of course the issue here has added importance because separatist rhetoric is at best divisive at a time Canada needs broad unity in the face of US president Donald Trump’s covetous desire to see Canada absorbed by it’s southern neighbour.
That Canada become a state should be a non-flyer for any Canadian with a modicum of pride in a country that while flawed is kilometres better than the near anarchy Trump is creating stateside.
Separatist chatter just muddies the water which favours Trump who will use it to push his end game of dominating our country.
Chan acknowledged the upheaval caused.
“Instability of any kind tends to chase away investment—at least in the short-term or until stability returns,” he said.
Chan – as Saskatchewan Party leader Scott Moe has been doing for years – laid the blame on the Liberals in Ottawa.
“But there’s an irony here,” he offered. “The very reason some residents even want a conversation about Saskatchewan’s future is BECAUSE federal Liberal policies over the past 10 years have crippled development, chased away trillions in investment, caused our cost of living to sky rocket, and created a serious housing crisis in which, unfortunately, the worst is still to come. This has affected the Western provinces more so. People are hurting. Their frustrations and concerns are valid and what we’re seeing is those feelings boil over into talks of a Saskatchewan without Canada.”
No doubt there is a serving of sour grapes here. The Conservatives failed after it looked like former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had scuttled the federal Liberals and conservatives are smarting over their loss.
Some of it’s valid – at least from a singular Sask/Alta perspective – which may not be the broadest ‘Canada as a country view.”
But PM Mark Carney earned the right to give doing better for all of Canada a shot, and weeks after the election is not the time we should ‘pick up our ball’ and move out.
Now we – Chan included – need to get to work and collectively build the future Canada as a whole deserves.
