YORKTON – Aleana Young, Sask NDP’s Shadow Minister for Economy and Jobs, is calling on Yorkton MLA David Chan to provide a clear stance on separatism.
The call comes amid concerns about his reported ties to Unified Grassroots, a separatist-leaning organization.
Speaking outside Chan’s constituency office in Yorkton the morning of May 9, Young demanded transparency, stating that the issue “merits a serious response.”
Young pointed to claims from Unified Grassroots’ leader, Nadine Ness, who described Chan as “one of us” and said she encouraged him to run for office.
“This isn’t about party politics—this is about the unity of our country and fundamentally this is about protecting jobs and investment in Sask.,” said Young.
“I grew up in Quebec, and a separation referendum—even one that’s unsuccessful—will drive jobs and investments out of this province,” said Young, adding, “business owners and investors need three things: stability, stability and stability.”
Young also criticized Chan’s response to the issue. She argued that his remarks did not explicitly denounce separatism or clarify his involvement with Unified Grassroots.
Chan has stated he joined a Facebook group associated with Unified Grassroots but maintains he is not affiliated with the organization. However, Young said Ness has publicly claimed that the group worked to get him elected.
In a December 2024 post on X, Ness stated that Unified Grassroots “personally worked with 30 candidates who ran, and 25 of them got elected.”
On The Mashup podcast from Oct. 28, 2024, during a live stream for the provincial election, Ness expressed enthusiasm for Chan’s candidacy, saying, “Yorkton will go pretty solid Sask Party, which is really good news because their new candidate, David Chan, I would say is one of us,” later adding, “I had the pleasure of meeting him. It was before he even put his name forward and he was saying that he was thinking about it and I encouraged him to do it.”
Young has called on Chan to publicly denounce Unified Grassroots and make clear that neither he nor his team has connections to the organization.
“Respectfully, there’s a higher threshold for MLAs,” said Young regarding transparency, “I have to disclose my Co-op memberships as an MLA. This is about being honest and transparent, and if he were doing that it wouldn’t have taken him four days to get his story straight.”
Comments