Guggenmos running for Libertarian party in Yorkton-Melville ring
April 21, 2025, 9:42 am
Ryan Kiedrowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
After a few years of sitting on the sidelines and supporting the Libertarian Party, Alec Guggenmos is running under their banner in the Yorkton-Melville riding.
“I’ve been involved with the party mostly online for the past couple years now, and it’s one of those things where we need candidates not only for people to have the opportunity to vote for us and express their views in their votes, but also because I don’t feel represented by the ballot if there isn’t a Libertarian on the ballot, and I feel like there’s probably other people in my riding that feel the same way,” he said.
Guggenmos’ interest in politics began during his time studying at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.
“Throughout that time, I was all about experiencing new things, and I started exploring politics a little bit more. I’ve been interested in politics for quite a few years now, but I started exploring different points of view and I kept hearing about Libertarianism,” he explained. “I started doing a bit of research on it, and I’d see people talk about it, and the more that I looked at stuff, the more it sort of clicked that this makes sense to my worldview, and this seems to be the most consistent political thought to me.
“A big part of why I ran also is because I want to build for the future,” he said. “We can’t elect more liberty-minded people into the government if we don’t have an infrastructure for it, whether it’s a riding association—which is something I’d love to be able to form here and level the playing field that way—or just having people know that the Libertarian Party exists. Of course, I hope that I am able to win this election and serve as MP, but even if I don’t, I think this is hopefully a stepping stone into growing a good, liberty-minded community within the riding.”
There are five key issues Guggenmos is focussing on during this election campaign: Fighting inflation and deficit spending by getting rid of the Central Bank; slashing the deficit through cuts to corporate welfare, the support of foreign wars and other government spending; implementing free trade to bolster local resources to the most profitable markets; ending provincial equalization; and election reform.
With this election being his first, Guggenmos is realistic that winning the support of voters will not be easy.
