Ryan Meili wants more bold ideas from the Saskatchewan NDP.
“Sask. NDP has been a bit on the timid side,” the party leadership candidate recently told CTV News. The party “has wanted to focus mostly on criticizing the Sask. Party and not necessarily put ourselves out there as what are the things we want to achieve.”
Meili, a doctor who grew up on a farm in southern Saskatchewan, has run for the party leadership twice — both unsuccessfully — in the past. He said his passion for health care drives his desire to once again put his name on the ballot.
“I really liked working as a family physician, but I saw over and over again the way in which it’s factors outside the clinic, outside the hospital, that have the biggest impact on people’s health,” said Meili, who was elected as an MLA in March last year.
His background as a doctor allows him to bring a fresh perspective to politics, he said. He wants the province to explore options like universal pharmacare, for examp
“We need to make this shift toward the idea of health as our primary political goal, and use our understanding of what really influences health — income, education, housing and the wider environment — to influence the way political decisions are made,” he said.
Meili is up against Trent Wotherspoon to lead the NDP.
The provincial party is set to choose the new leader at a convention in Regina on Saturday.
--- based on a report from Matt Young
