View All News Items

NEW SASK. PARTY EYES INDEPENDENCE - Monday, March 15, 2004 at 10:07

PUBLICATION:  The Edmonton Sun
DATE:  2004.03.15
EDITION:  Final
SECTION:  News
PAGE:  24
BYLINE:  CP
DATELINE:  MELVILLE, Sask. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEW SASK. PARTY EYES INDEPENDENCE

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A fledgling Saskatchewan political party formalized its policies at its founding convention yesterday, voting to oppose same-sex marriages and to end tax exemptions for First Nations people.

Bruce Ritter of Yorkton, Sask., leader of the Western Independence Party of Saskatchewan, said members also voted in favour of allowing private medical clinics to operate alongside a publicly funded medicare system.

The party believes in direct democracy through the use of binding referendums and wants to join with other western provinces and form an independent nation.

"The will of the people can and is frequently frustrated when people you send to Parliament or the legislature ignore what the people want," Ritter said.

Although the party had been expecting about 100 people at the three-day convention in Melville, only about one-third that number showed up.

Ritter blamed bad weather for the poor turnout. He declined to say how many members the party has.

Guest speaker at the convention was Bruce Hutton, leader of the Separation Party of Alberta and founder of the Law-abiding Unregistered Firearms Association.

The Western Independence Party, which was registered Sept. 12, 2002, was shut out in the provincial election in November despite fielding 17 candidates.

It has no intention to run federally.

"When we come to office, we'd replace the RCMP here with a Saskatchewan police force," said Ritter.

"We would commence collecting taxes due to the government of Saskatchewan directly, not through Ottawa. We'd also set up a comprehensive Saskatchewan pension plan. Once we're independent, we would set up a national defence force."