The incumbent Cypress Hills-Grasslands MP is embracing the latest boundary changes ahead of the April 28 federal election.
Swift Current-Grasslands-Kindersley Conservative Party of Canada candidate Jeremy Patzer, who's seeking a third term in Parliament, said it's an honour and privilege to have his name on the ballot again. The riding has been redistributed after 28 years and 11 federal elections.
"It's great to see the new communities in the riding; unfortunately, I no longer get to serve areas like Assiniboia, Gravelbourg, and around the lake to Central Butte. Those are great communities," he said. "Those communities are off to other ridings but I look forward to getting to meet the people in communities like Biggar, Macklin, Perdue, and Rosetown and many others."
Patzer said he'll be leaning on his volunteers to help him navigate and campaign in the northern part of the new riding. He made one trip to the area to meet with volunteers and deliver lawn signs and is planning to make another visit before the election for some door-knocking.
The campaign trail is still fresh, but affordability (grocery and fuel costs) and United States tariffs have been the topics of a lot of conversations Patzer has had.
"People are concerned about what's happening with the United States," he said. "But we have to take care of the cost of living crisis here in Canada as well."
Agriculture is one of the driving forces of Saskatchewan's economy and plays a big part locally. Patzer said if his party is elected federally, they'd be able to help improve global relationships.
"Right now, we're seeing a big tariff on canola and a few other products by China as a retaliatory measure on EV tariffs that Canada put on Chinese products," he said. "When the current government doesn't prioritize the trade relationships and work to expand market access, that's a problem. It's our producers that feel the heat on that."
He also pointed to the canola crushing facilities being built in the province as a path forward for value added in agriculture products.
"We export all the raw goods then we import it back as a refined product or as a completed product," he said. "We can do some of that value add here in Canada and that will have a tremendous impact positively on the agriculture industry if we're able to do some of that here in Canada."
The energy sector is also receiving a lot of attention, according to Patzer during his conversations. He said the Conservatives would build a national energy corridor.
"The U.S. is obviously our biggest trading partner, but we have an opportunity to provide the rest of the world with the energy it needs," he said. "To get our product out to the coast is the first step to do that."
Repealing the carbon tax completely as a policy, Patzer said would help with the affordability issue - a change his government would focus on.