The federal NDP party has come out of the gate with their first candidate in Saskatchewan leading up to a potential fall election.

Alex McPhee, from Val Marie, was nominated earlier this month in the Cypress Hills-Grasslands riding currently held by incumbent Jeremy Patzer for the Conservative Party of Canada.

As far as McPhee is aware, he is the first official NDP candidate in the province, a feat that he puts squarely at the feet of his team in the area.

"That's because Cypress Hills-Grasslands has the best bunch of volunteers in the province. We have finished collecting our signatures ahead of everyone else, which makes me quite proud of our little group out here."

With the last federal election being held relatively recently in October of 2019, the next election could theoretically still be quite a ways away. But McPhee, who also acts as a part-time election analyst, personally believes the country is heading for the polls far quicker than most people realize.

"Nova Scotia is having a provincial election right now. And in recent Canadian history, it would be very very typical for the Liberals to call a federal writ the day after Nova Scotia goes to the polls. So I suspect we won't have that long of a wait."

In the meantime, he says that he and the riding's Electoral District Association (EDA) are getting prepared by simply talking to people.

"We're going door to door. We're showing up to public events when invited. And the rest of the EDA and I have been doing quite a bit of work to contact our supporters in the region and get a hold of what people want to see in the probably inevitable 2021 campaign."

McPhee knows that the battle is an uphill one, and prepares himself for that by reading about Tommy Douglas and reminding himself that Saskatchewan is the home province of the NDP. Douglas, he says, spent a great deal of his career outnumbered.

He believes that Douglas' message; that of building a "movement" rather than simply campaigning for votes, is one that is still pertinent in the modern political landscape.

"That is what I see all around me out here, precisely because this is the party's home province. We have a great local group. We know who our supporters are. We're quite experienced at putting in the work out here in the southwest to run a good campaign every year. So even when I feel outnumbered I know that I am never alone anywhere I go. And that is quite enough to keep me going."

Nova Scotians head to the provincial polls on August 17, 2021. If McPhee is correct, August 18, 2021, could be a date to mark on the calendar.