It’s official. Keystone Agricultural Producers’ former president is now a political candidate.
Ian Wishart was acclaimed as the Progressive Conservative candidate for the provincial Portage la Prairie riding at a Dec. 20 constituency meeting.
About 45 people attended the nomination meeting held in a Portage la Prairie hotel.
Wishart, 56, resigned as KAP president Oct. 14. He declared his intention to run provincially two weeks later.
Wishart hopes to replace PC incumbent MLA David Faurschou, who announced in September he would not seek re-election.
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The next provincial election will be held Oct. 4, 2011.
Wishart said his job between now and the election is to get up to speed on constituency issues as well as agricultural ones.
A major issue for local voters is the Bipole III transmission line which, if constructed as planned, will go down the west side and across the south side of the constituency.
Farmers who produce intensive agricultural crops, such as potatoes and beans, are particularly concerned the power line will inconvenience their operations, Wishart said.
He said Portage la Prairie will need help paying for modifications to the city’s waste water treatment plant because of new provincial phosphorus regulations. The McCain and Simplot french fry-processing plants put a lot of pressure on the system and “it’ll be quite a substantial bill for the size of the population base.”
