Close to 100 NDP supporters filled the auditorium at Timothy Eaton Gardens for the nomination meeting, which featured Patterson taking on city councillor Crystal Froese for the right to face Sask Party’s incumbent MLA Greg Lawrence in the next election.
In the end, it was Patterson who emerged with the majority of the 89 votes cast, touching off a happy celebration among herself and her supporters and drawing congratulations from Froese herself.
“I am overwhelmed with excitement,” Patterson said during a break from greetings from well-wishers of all stripes. “I’m eager to get to work for the people, I’m excited to get out there and talking to people and have some direction to talk to them on and the ability to say ‘yes, I hear that and I want to move forward with that and I want to work on that with you’. So that’s what I’m most excited about, being engaged and involved in the community.”
Patterson has long advocated for the working class in Moose Jaw, part of her work as the chief shop steward for the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) Local 455 at Casino Moose Jaw, where she’s worked for the last 16 years.
“There’s a little bit of authority behind my voice now and I’m happy for that,” Patterson said. “And I’m excited to work with a such a great, progressive young team… I’m just really inspired by them all. I was enamoured with [NDP leader] Ryan [Meili] when I met him at CLC Spring School and I was inspired to move forward with this. And I’m glad I did.”
Meili himself was impressed with what he saw from the then-potential candidate, something that hasn’t changed in the intervening months.
“Very strong,” he said of Patterson’s chances in the election. “Melissa is very well known in the community, she’s full of energy and an exciting person to be around, and she knows why she’s doing this. This is somebody who is a working-class person and who speaks to the needs of the city and particularly the people of Moose Jaw Wakamow. A lot of people are living stretched paycheque to paycheque and Scott Moe and the Sask Party are showing no interest in addressing the economic challenges faced by regular people.
“We certainly haven’t seen any good leadership out of Greg Lawrence, so there’s an appetite for change here and I feel very good about our chances for Moose Jaw Wakamow.”
Patterson is under no illusion that Lawrence – Moose Jaw Wakamow’s MLA since 2011 – will be a tough incumbent to defeat given his nearly 10 years in office, but there’s a plan for that.
“Engagement,” Patterson said. “It’s going to take getting out there and getting my face known, talking to people, because for a long time we’ve not had that representation where we can say ‘hey, he’s there and this is what he’s done’. But I’m ready to change that, and that’s what I’m going to do. Be seen in the public eye and to be recognized and the candidate that people can talk too, take what they’re saying to heart and take that back to the team and find ways to work on it.”
The 2020 Saskatchewan election writ has yet to be dropped by the Sask Party government, but can be held no later than Oct. 26, 2020.
