Strong to vie for Wolseley seat

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This article was published 04/01/2016 (3646 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Local politician and advocate Shandi Strong is ready to be heard in this year’s provincial election.

Strong is running for MLA in the Wolseley riding and hopes to make history by winning on April 19. As a transgender woman, Strong said that a win for her would be groundbreaking.

“It’s huge because transgender people are typically very shy and not out there and there’s only about 20 transgender people in the world anywhere that are sitting in a formal political office,” Strong, 54, said.

It’s her first time running in an election, but as an outspoken advocate of the LGBT community, she has had years of experience addressing the public and working to facilitate change.

“People have said that I’m inspirational to them, that I’m a natural leader… it took a little while to sink in,” Strong said. “What I always wanted to do was make some kind of difference and help people that need it.”

Strong said her decision to run for MLA was solidified after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a point of selecting a cabinet that represented the country’s gender and background diversity.

“When he was taken to task on it he stood up and he said, you know what, this is Canada 2015,” she said. “He didn’t back down and I’m going, ‘You know what? I like that.”

Strong’s experiences as transgender have helped shape her priorities as a candidate. If elected, Strong hopes to make mental health assistance more readily available to anyone who needs it.

“(The Liberals) want to have mental illness covered under health care and Medicare,” she said. “A  lot of people think… I can’t afford $150 an hour to go see a psychiatrist, only rich people can afford that. So you deal with stress and the pressure and it really affects people in their day-to-day lives.”

Another focus for the party and Strong is the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women. Having met families who have lost loved ones to murder or unknown causes, Strong knows this is an urgent issue.

“They promised to do something about it federally and we’ve promised to do something about it here so it’s going to make a difference in the community,” Strong said. “We’re taking action to find out what happens to these people, where they are and hopefully bring closure to their families.”

In addition, she hopes to see a move towards liquor privatization, which would make it substantially cheaper for purchase.

“Privatization is certainly one of the things that people talk about from time to time so we’re trying to make that happen,” she said.

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