PRINCE ALBERT — Incumbent Member of Parliament and Conservative Party of Canada candidate for the Prince Albert riding, Randy Hoback officially kicked off his campaign with an office opening on Saturday.
Hoback spoke to supporters before cutting the ribbon to officially open his office. Hoback said he has been busy since the writ dropped for the Federal Election on April 28.
"We have been out putting signs this last week, we have been out talking to our volunteers and our base just to get everything organized,” he explained. “It was organized quite a bit beforehand. The snowstorm kind of threw us off guard a little bit, but we're plugging away. We'll get more signs up throughout the riding this week.”
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 this year.
"People really want to see a Conservative government. There's no question about that,” Hoback said. “This is a strong Conservative area. They want to see change. They want some common sense brought back into government. They want people to represent them and to represent their values and their needs. They don't see any answers out of Liberals. They see the answers coming out of Pierre Pollievre and a Conservative government.”
Hoback has been the incumbent since 2008 and is entering his fifth election in the riding. Issues for the election 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, so you'll start to see different things emerge where having common policies and somebody fighting for everybody will make a big difference.”
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. We've got a leader that's going to take care of Canadians, and that alone will bring Canadians together.”
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 said he has an understanding of the broader issues. He said that the problem is that there is no certainty with what action Trump will take next.
"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 said that there should be more plans in place so Canada can broaden its trade networks.
“Having things in place (where) we’re not solely relying on the US, so you can actually export to other parts of the world, having game plan to do that, those are things that need to be done that haven't been done,” he said. “(The) Liberals over the last nine years really haven't done anything on the trade problem.”
He said the incumbent government has had a hard time signing even pre-existing trade deals.
I think the last thing they've done is a Ukraine deal that was already sitting there. This is a government that's been tired when it comes to trade.
Another example he gave was the new NAFTA deal signed during the first Trump administration.
During his speech Hoback encouraged people to take lawn signs and distribute them in the riding. He also encouraged people in the riding to try and 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. We're going to have their backs.”
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.
