With the federal election underway across Canada, we took some time to talk to a local candidate for the Souris-Moose Mountain area.
Remi Rheault is running with the Green Party of Canada, having moved to Saskatchewan in 2022 and previously running with the Green Party in Kenora, Ontario.
He spoke about some of the important issues for himself and the Southeast.
Why are you running in Souris-Moose Mountain?
"This is my last final move of my life. I actually live in Grenfell. When I say the last final move of my life, I have moved 390 times. I've lived everywhere across this beautiful Turtle Island, from coast to coast and from border to the Arctic Circle. So I have a lot of, I guess you could say, life experiences with people in Canada. It's kind that we actually stand up and give the power back to the people."
What makes you want to run for your specific riding?
"Here's the thing about moving around a lot. You do actually find out that we all have a common problem. Lack of representation, which is why I run with the Green Party. I can run as an independent, and that will still do the same thing. But the major resources, such as advertising, are pretty much out of reach when you're running as an independent. With the Green Party, it's in their constitution. I do not have to toe the party line. Therefore, I can actually vote for what the people of this constituency want. You do not lose your voice. To me, that's important."
"Being of Indigenous descent, our voices were silent. Today, we can talk up. We can speak up. We can stand up. We can unite. We can actually represent the people here. For me, it's about people. I am not that much of an environmentalist. Although the environment is important, I'm a humanitarian person foremost. We need to look after each other. We need to be a community. We need to have a voice."
What are your top priorities if you get into office?
"Number one, we've got to look at affordable housing. Proper health care. We have to reduce the amount of direct and indirect taxes on people. We need to raise the basic personal exemption. I really like that policy. This is the thing we have to understand. That policy is not the constitution of the party. Policy is what they want to achieve. Their constitutions are different. Their bylaws are different. We've forgotten how the political structure works."
"Which is why I do videos on Remi Rheault for Souris-Moose Mountain Facebook page. I am doing videos because we have forgotten how to teach politics 101. We've forgotten what a democracy is. Right now, we live in a perceived democracy, and I would like to see a full democracy. Because when you elect a representative in your constituency, if they lose their voice in Ottawa, that's perceived democracy. But if they keep their voice, that is pure democracy. Because they get to vote the way the people want. Not the way the party wants."
American tariffs and their effects are a big issue - how would you address that?
"This is an economic endeavor. We can actually go back to doing what we used to do. Historically, Canada is self-sufficient. It always has been. We have stopped the east-west trade between provinces. We need to take down some of those barriers. We had stopped this years ago when we started getting corporate influences through lobbying groups. That would have been somewhere back around 1972, 1974. Not only am I a humanitarian, I'm also a historian. I love history. Some of it is good, some of it is bad, and some of it is ugly. Some we should repeat, some we should acknowledge, and some we should actually just totally get rid of. It's not about cancel culture. But if we go back to trading from east to west, we can be self-sufficient again."
Many locals are worried about rural crime rates. What would you do to address those?
"This goes back again to helping each other. You know, you can put as many police as you want. It's not going to solve the problem. What we need to address is the issue of what is causing these crimes. Low-income people are living below the poverty line. Our crime rate today is the same as it was from 1929 to 1934, the per capita crime rate."
"We need to address mental health issues. We need to address housing issues. We need to address those issues and make sure that people have the basic necessities of life. Once you start giving people the opportunity to be able to live with dignity, the crime rate goes down. It's been proven all over the world. Denmark, Norway, Switzerland. You actually do something that's going to help people live together in unity, and your crime rate drops. So, do we have big issues? Absolutely. But we need to address them in a humanitarian way. Not just keep throwing people in jail and saying that's it."
What other issues specific to the riding would you like to see addressed?
"Myself, personally, I think we should lower some of these mill rates. I think we need to start helping some farmers' fields to feed their families. Get rid of a lot of the small business regulations. We over-regulate people. We don't regulate corporations enough. I'd like to see that basic tax exemption, or what they call basic personal exemption, go up from $13,500, which is actually attached to the poverty line, and bring it up to the $40,000 mark. Because our elders, I'm hearing from them, they've got choices to make, choices that humanity should not be allowing them to make. They should have to make a choice between paying their rent, buying food, and getting their medication. They should have the capacity to do all three without having to make that choice."
"I think removing housing from being a commodity would really help. Just kind of freeze a lot of the rates right now on rent. The other thing I'd like to see is I'd like to see politicians not get paid so much. I'd like to see them either capped off or have a decrease of 15 per cent. We need to actually shift some of the tax burden from individual people onto the corporations. They're making huge amounts, stopping a lot of the subsidies that are coming from our tax dollars."
How would you work with the provincial and municipal levels of government?
"As equals. We have a lot of things where they overlap from federal to provincial, and there are a lot of issues that people are talking about right now that are actually provincial issues. There's some of them that are municipal issues. But again, putting the humanity at the core means we have a stepping stone to actually start working and creating a better way. Money does need to be transferred. (The) tax system needs to change. Our tax reform has to start someplace, and I think the Green Party has the best policy right now by increasing the basic personal exemption. That's step number one."
How would you like to see the country grow over the next few years?
"By about 50% to 100%. I think if we create an environment where people feel happy, we take our measurements not from the GDP, but we take from the happiness of the people that live here. I think doing that is going to be a first step. Like I said, this is not a simple fix. Nobody can fix the problems we have here in four years. Nobody. We can lay out some pretty good groundwork where people can actually say, 'yes, this is a step in the right direction.'"
"When we talk about Indigenous issues, we've got to talk about the most oppressive racist act that ever came out in the entire history of Canada, and that is the Indian Act. The Indian Act created a lot of problems with genocide, cultural genocide. It caused abuse to people. I know my family was abused in many different ways. My mom was the last of 24 children. My grandmother was one of 32, and we can go back right up into the 1400s. The abuses that we have incurred, the land theft, these things need to be addressed, and they need to be worked on in a very respectful way, following our traditional teachings, following our original governance."
Any final thoughts?
"Please take a look at my videos. I'm talking about things such as voter apathy. Right now in Canada, our voter apathy is very high. I'd like to see that drop down to about 5 per cent. That means you have a voice when you vote. It's so important for us to vote. It is one of the rights of democracy, and democracy is about having your voice."
"One thing we do not teach anymore is democracy. If we really, really want to, this is a very important election. We have threats coming from south of the 49th, not in fighting yet, but as he always says, he never outrules anything. But we have a threat of economic terror force. It's more than a threat, he's already doing it. He's unpredictable, and he's following an old pattern that goes (back) to 1929. So we need to understand our history worldwide, our history here in Canada, our history here in Saskatchewan, and we need to actually go out and vote."
"Honestly, people, vote independent, vote green. Have your voices heard. Stand up, unify. It's time for us to bring humanity to the forefront and do what's right for the next seven generations coming. Leave something better."