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Justin Trudeau has nothing to do with this Liberal Party.
The Saskatchewan Liberal Party is gearing up for the Oct. 26 provincial election.
In the 2016 election, Liberal candidates got 15,568 votes, making up 3.59 per cent of the ballots cast.
Interim leader Robert Rudachyk is hoping to clarify that his party is not related to the federal Liberals in order to perform better this year.
He said that voters are often confused.
“It has been tough. The reality is, the Saskatchewan Liberal Party is not the federal Liberal Party. We are two separate organizations entirely. We may share some similar beliefs on certain things but we are not the same party in any way, shape or form,” he said in an interview Thursday.
Some have gone as far as to insult him based on the misconception.
“I hate to say it, I’ve had a lot of trolls attacking me on social media. They call the leader of my party a crook, a liar and a thief. I say, ‘I am that leader. Why are you calling me that?’ They go, ‘No, that’s Trudeau,’ ” Rudachyk said.
He hopes that people can see past the name to the party’s platform, in which he is very confident.
“I believe so much in the values of the party,” Rudachyk said.
The Liberals’ policies include bringing back the film tax credit, lowering the provincial sales tax to five per cent, cutting the number of MLAs in the Legislative Assembly from 61 to 49 and investing in environmentally-friendly farming technology.
In the first few days of campaigning, Rudachyk noted that these coronavirus times make it much more difficult to get his message out.
“It’s not safe for us to be on the doorstep. I don’t want to put my candidates at risk going door to door … I don’t want one of my candidates to get infected and die … I don’t want them putting their families at risk, and I don’t them to put voters at risk of transmitting this virus. It’s irresponsible to be on the doorsteps as much as we were in the old days,” he said.
As such, he would like to be included in the Oct. 14 leaders debate. He believes every party leader — including himself, Naomi Hunter of the Greens, Ken Grey of the Progressive Conservatives and Wade Sira of the Buffalo Party — should be allowed on the stage.
While COVID presents a serious challenge, this election cycle is a serious whirlwind for Rudachyk for another major reason.
He was chosen as interim leader of the Liberals on Monday. On Tuesday, the writ dropped.
Naveed Anwar led the party starting in May of 2018. He resigned in early September, saying he would prefer to focus on social causes outside of politics.
It left Rudachyk and the party in a difficult position.
“I’m not going to go into the details of why (Anwar) suddenly chose to resign and leave us in the lurch here,” he said.
“I got thrown right into the deep end and I’m swimming the best I can. I’m trying to keep my head above water, but you have to do what you have to do.”
Rudachyk is running in the Saskatoon Westview riding.