‘Controversial’ candidate taking run at mayor’s chair
Political hopeful wants to turn landfill into ski hill, scrap downtown bike lanes
Jason Scott Friesen calls himself controversial and says he knows the odds are against him as an unknown, but he’s still running for mayor.
Friesen, who is the first known candidate to declare his candidacy for mayor, said he wants to reverse some of the decisions made by the current council and shift priorities at city hall.
His ideas include such policies as scrapping the downtown bike lanes, the proposed bus rapid transit-style system, the city’s organic waste program and the time limit for backyard fires.
He also wants to turn the landfill into a ski hill and introduce a permit system so establishments can allow smoking on outdoor patios.
“Absolutely, there’s no doubt about it,” Friesen, 39, said in an interview on Tuesday.
“I’m a very controversial guy,” he added.
Friesen, a courier driver for Loomis Express, said he realizes the odds are stacked against an unknown in the mayoral race.
Friesen said he considered running for Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada in the last federal election, but decided against it to focus on the mayoral bid.
He plans to be on the ballot for the Nov. 9 vote and has the advantage of being first out of the gate, he said.
“That’s my full intention. I’ve thought about this for years and I’ve been planning this for years.
“I understand the odds. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to try.”
Friesen would also like businesses to be allowed permits for indoor vaping and cannabis smoking. He wants smoking outside again at Sasktel Centre, too.
Friesen said he would like to quadruple the money generated by Saskatoon’s tourism industry to $2 billion.
To that end, he supports plans for a whitewater park on the South Saskatchewan River and would like to see the return of the Penguin Park/village waterslide park that folded in 1991.
“I’m just a guy with a bunch of ideas floating around in my head,” he said.
His platform, as listed on his website, includes ending fluoridation in water and abandoning efforts to increase the diversity of the workforce at city hall.
“I didn’t like what I was seeing,” Friesen said of the current council and mayor.
“When (former mayor) Don Atchison was in, I still didn’t like what I was seeing. With this current mayor, I find it’s a complete disaster.”
Friesen, who grew up mostly in the Martensville area, has lived in Saskatoon for about 10 years.
He’s married and has two children with his wife, plus a 14-yearold daughter from a previous relationship.
Mayor Charlie Clark has not yet declared whether or not he will seek re-election.