'We're just an idea': New political party seeks middle ground in Saskatchewan

A new political party is in its nascent form, hoping to find support from middle-of-the-road people in Saskatchewan.

A steering committee was formed earlier this year with the purpose of creating the Living Sky Party, which is billing itself as "centrist" on the political spectrum.

"At this point, we're just an idea," Ken Grey, a spokesman for the committee, said Tuesday. "We're very new."

Grey, who said he has been a supporter of the NDP and has run for election under the NDP banner, said a group of people from different political stripes gathered after the provincial election April 4 expressing concerns about the two predominant parties in Saskatchewan.

"We were just frustrated," Grey said, claiming the Saskatchewan Party and the NDP are in his view "lacking in any policy".

"They seem to be more interested in playing a game of 'gotcha' with each other," he said. "It's just resulted in a real void in Saskatchewan politics."

According to Grey, there is a "war between the business community and the union movement" in the province and a new political party is needed to offer "policies that put the people of Saskatchewan first instead of business or union bosses."

Grey cited examples where, in his opinion, the Saskatchewan Party and the NDP were more attuned to special interests than the broader electorate.

"Arbitrary and top-down government doesn't work," he said.

The Living Sky Party's 10-member steering committee plans to reach out to people and talk about their goals.

"We just think that there's more to Saskatchewan than simply catering to one industry or catering to organized labour," Grey said. "We're looking for other people that are also frustrated with the current situation."

There are also plans to register the party with Elections Saskatchewan.

Grey also said the steering committee does not want the new party to have any ties with an established federal political party.

The new party will also need to have a founding convention, choose a leader and devise a set of policies, he said. He said that may not happen until 2017 at the earliest and possibly not until 2018.