FNP leader fails in bid for provincial seat

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Brendan Cross, leader of Saskatchewan's First Nations Party (FNP), said he was surprised by his recent showing in a byelection held to fill a vacant seat in the Regina Elphinstone riding.

The FNP received only 49 votes out of 7,334 ballots cast, for 1.49 per cent of the total vote. Cross represented the party in the byelection, which marked the party's first attempt at running for a provincial seat.

"Yes, I was surprised," Cross said in an interview the day following the byelection. "And the reason is that we enlisted close to 200 supporters -actual members of our party-in Regina Elphinstone, before the election. And I was somewhat confident that we would get at least 200. At least we'd get those members to vote. And above and beyond that, I was hoping that we'd get even more votes than that.

"I knew that voter turnout would be low, and I felt that that would be an advantage for our party because the number of votes we needed to receive to get a good percentage of the vote was much lower. But, as it turned out, the main problem was that even our supporters-the new members that we had enlisted-were so hesitant to vote that the support never really came to pass," Cross said.

Cross suggested the low voter turnout was the result of a number of factors, from the minus 30 degree weather the day of the byelection, to voter burnout from the recent federal and civic elections, to the February blahs. As far as the poor showing of his party was concerned, Cross cited problems communicating with potential supporters.

"A lot of our supporters don't have telephones, so it's hard to get into communication with these people, unless you actually show up on their doorstep, which we did. But some people were confused about the date of elections. Very rarely do low-income people subscribe to a newspaper or take an interest in current events on the news," Cross said. "I just really think that the date of the election, above all things, created a great handicap for the First Nations Party of Saskatchewan."

With the Regina Elphinstone byelection out of the way, the FNP will now turn its attentions to its next challenge-the Saskatoon Riversdale byelection, scheduled for March 19.

"Since the registering of our party, our first priority was the Regina Elphinstone byelection, and second to that the Saskatoon Riversdale byelection. Personally I think the results of this election in Regina has lessened the state of anxiety in regards to our campaigns in these byelections. Yes, our hopes were high, and quite obviously, though, it wasn't a crushing defeat, and it wasn't a close defeat. We are going to do the best that we can in Saskatoon Riversdale, and again our message and our focus will be enlisting the support of low-income people and Aboriginal people facing their distinct social problems in Saskatoon Riversdale, in hope that we can get the vote out. But, even the fact that I received less than 50 votes in last night's election in Regina, that is compensated by the fact that I know on a personal level that I received the moral support of over 400 people within Regina Elphinstone, who wanted to get involved in the party and wanted party memberships. And so I know that the moral support is there, and that to me is more important than a victory in the byelections. But again, of course, we wanted to get as many votes as possible."

One of the things Cross feels will help his party's chances in the next byelection is better marketing. He hopes to reach a bigger audience this time around by running a candidate better known in the Aboriginal community, and by the media-Métis activist John Melenchuk.

"I think that one thing that hurt our chances amongst the general electorate was that they weren't even aware of what our focus was. There was very little attention upon me as a candidate or what I stand for, other than the fact that I started this party. And I think that in Saskatoon Riversdale, because John Melenchuk is a name widely known among thejournalistic community, that we will be using that as much as possible to attack the issues and to attack the other parties and the other candidates aggressively and honorably. But that was something we didn't do in Regina Elphinstone. We targeted specific people to enlist as party members and supporters, and we neglected to really market our party or our campaign platform amongst the general electorate."