Green Party leadership candidates appearing in five Southwest communities this weekend

Green Party supporters in the Southwest will have an opportunity to meet the three candidates vying for the Saskatchewan Green Party leadership during a five meeting swing through the region this weekend.

The Saskatchewan Green Party will pick a new leader at a special general meeting at the end of the month, so candidates Naomi Hunter, George Wooldridge and Maria Rose Lewans have arranged a stop at five locations on Saturday on Sunday.

On Saturday, the trio will be stopping at the Elkhorn Hotel Dining Room in Morse from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., and during the evening from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. they will be at the Modern Family Restaurant banquet room in Swift Current.

They wrap up their Southwest tour on Sunday starting in Shaunavon from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Seniors Complex, followed by a stop in Eastend from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Jack’s Cafe, and wrapping up in Maple Creek from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at The Maple Creek Armoury.

Hunter currently serves as the interim Deputy Leader of the Saskatchewan Green Party. She was the Green Party candidate in the federal riding of Regina-lewvan, earning the top Green vote result in the province with 4.0 per cent support (2,035 votes). The riding was won by Warren Steinley with 52.9 per cent of the vote.

Wooldridge ran federally in the Wascana riding in 2008, collecting 1,706 votes while Ralph Goodale won another seat in Ottawa. He also served as the Green Party of Saskatchewan candidate in the Melville-saltcoats constituency in 2014.

Lewans ran as the provincial candidate in the 2018 Swift Current Constituency by-election ran as an independent during this past federal election. She was also one of three candidates running for mayor during the 2016 City of Swift Current municipal election.

The Saskatchewan Green Party Leadership Special General Meeting will be held on February 29 in Regina. People will have until February 15, 2020 to take out new memberships or to renew current memberships to vote for their preferred choice on the ballot.