Saskatoon West incumbent Benson kicks off 2019 campaign

Saskatoon West New Democrat incumbent Sheri Benson is focusing on affordability, prescription drug coverage, and working on housing costs as her campaign officially kicks off.

Benson was elected as the Member of Parliament for the riding in 2015 and is up against three candidates in the upcoming election. The Conservative Party’s Brad Redekopp, Green Party’s Shawn Setyo and the PPC’s Isaac J. Harker are running in the riding, with the Liberal Party not putting forth a candidate to date.

Benson said in her four years as MP she pushed for and succeeded in getting a ban on asbestos, worked on veteran homelessness issues and helped citizens navigate barriers in accessing federal government programs.

Heading into this election season, Benson said she doesn’t believe the federal government has reached Canada’s expectations.

“What I’m hearing on the doorstep is people aren’t feeling like life has really got a whole lot better with the Liberal government,” she said. “I think the expectations were high.”

The NDP announced its national campaign platform in June. Benson said she feels like it encompasses what Canadians are looking for on all the major talking points including climate change.

“What I see in our platform is an ability to not only deal with the climate crisis, deal with it as a crisis, so get things going right away,” she said. “We’re also talking about people and communities, and those are the things that need to go together.”

Benson has one focus when it comes to the citizens of her riding, and it stems from issues she has heard going door to door over her time as incumbent.

“(It’s) how to make ends meet, how to get to the end of the month,” she said.