Bonk running for Conservatives in Souris-Moose Mountain
March 31, 2025, 10:16 am
Ryan Kiedrowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
This is the moment Steven Bonk has been waiting for. Last summer, Robert Kitchen announced he planned to retire from his position as MP for Souris-Moose Mountain when the next federal election was called. This prompted a nomination race for the position, which Bonk won.
“The response has been just overwhelming, and I’m so grateful to the constituents of Souris-Moose Mountain for their warm acceptance,” Bonk said when asked why he choose to run in this election.
“I’ve served for eight years in the provincial legislature, and I’ve served as a Minister in Cabinet in the Sask Party government, and I could see that we were we were being frustrated by the federal government. We had to play within the confines of federal regulations quite often, particularly in the areas that I’m very interested in, which are international trade and economy.
“I realized that in the province, we’re in very good hands with the Sask Party government, and for me, the fight was in Ottawa. That’s where we need to change things to make a real difference in Saskatchewan, and particularly for this part of the province. There’s no other part of the province that relies more on international trade than we do. We export over 95 per cent of what we produce from our area, and it’s really important to us. It’s vital to us that we have a federal government that is responsive to our needs, and is proud of our resources and what we do here instead of vilifying us.”
Souris-Moose Mountain is a large riding
“This riding is the size of Croatia or Belgium—it’s huge!” says Bonk. “But the main concerns are the same throughout the whole riding, and that is just an over tax burden by our federal government, the constant interference by the federal government in the delegations of powers to provinces and municipalities, and people just want a government that’s there for them to provide regulation so that we can protect public safety, protect consumers, and other than that just get out of their way,” Bonk said.
“We have some of the best producers in the world in this part of the country. Let’s just let them do what they do best. We want to make sure that we can provide the government services for them, like health care and education and roads, for example, and provide infrastructure, but as far as this constant meddling in the affairs of the people of our country, let’s just let people get on with their own lives. Let them make their own decisions.”
While early polls show the Liberal party slightly ahead of the federal Conservatives, Bonk is confident that his party can win a majority.
“We’re fortunate to have some of the most common sense, pragmatic thinking people in the country,” he said. “But we’re seeing in other parts of the country where traditionally they might have voted Liberal, I think they’re projecting their hopes on Mark Carney as to what they hope he will be. But I can see what’s happening now that his true colors are starting to come out, and people are starting to get to know him a little bit better in his policies, and the shine is wearing off really quick. He’s basically copying all of our platform planks, but just in a more government intrusive manner.”
Bonk feels the best way to get the Conservative message out is to simply keep sharing it.
“I think the Conservative platform is one of just common sense,” he said. “We want to bring back the power to the people, to let people make the decisions over their own lives. And I think that resonates anywhere in Canada, not just in Saskatchewan. We just have to make sure that message is heard loud and clear.”
Trade is one of the top challenges according to Bonk, especially with the frustration over tariffs placed on Canadian goods in the U.S. and China, and retaliatory tariffs placed by the current federal government.
“I think some of the biggest challenges for me right now would be on the trade side,” said Bonk. “The canola tariffs, for example, from China, which isn’t getting enough attention from the legacy media, that’s one huge concern for our riding. And, of course, the tariffs that are coming from south of the border.
“Trade is something that I’m quite passionate about. So this is a big concern, and I feel that Pierre Poilievre is by far the most capable of the leaders to handle this challenge. Of course, I’ll offer any assistance or help in any way I can. It’s extremely important for us in Souris-Moose Mountain.”
Bonk mentioned the abundance and diversity of resources within the riding.
“If you look at Souris-Moose Mountain, it’s sort of a microcosm of the Saskatchewan economy as a whole,” Bonk said, listing potash, oil and gas, agriculture, agriculture manufacturing, and rare earths as examples. “We have lithium, we have hydrogen, it’s just so important for us to be able to export our products all over the world.”
Bonk says based on the federal government’s actions, trade policy has not been a priority.
“You can see how important policy is with nine years of the Trudeau-Carney Liberals, and with them not paying attention to international trade, to our international relations,” he said. “This is the result. Policy matters.”
