Pamela Wallin, Saskatchewan's most famous journalist, diplomat, and senator, spoke in Yorkton on Saturday at a fundraiser for the Yorkton-Melville Conservative Electoral District Association.
Wallin, the former host of CTV's Canada AM and the Canadian Consulate General in New York City from 2002-2006, was one of 18 people named to the Senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the end of 2008.
She was in the city on the weekend in support of Yorkton-Melville MP Garry Breitkreuz. The Gallagher Centre's Wellington Room West was nearly filled to capacity for the $100-a-plate gala dinner.The senator told media at the start of the evening that she intended to share her experiences with Saskatchewan's growing international reputation.
"It doesn't matter where you are in the world--the name is 小蓝视频 recognized."
This is a stark contrast tto past years, said Wallin, when telling people she came from Saskatchewan would earn her only blank stares.
"We've always had the resources, and we've always had amazing people, but now the rest of the world is starting to see it and appreciate it and do business with us."Wallin touched on the subject of Saskatchewan with the crowd, but the senator was in Yorkton first and foremost as a representative of the Conservative Party. Most of her 45-minute speech was an enthusiastic endorsement of Stephen Harper and a criticism of the opposition parties. The senator spoke harshly against the compromises made during the last five years of minority government in Canada.
The war in Afghanistan was a central topic for Wallin, who chairs the Senate's National Security & Defence Committee.
"I personally believe that we should stay, and we should stay in a combat role," she said.
"Americans, particularly the American military, don't give compliments easily. But I met with General McChrystal in my last trip to Afghanistan and he said, 'If I had my way, I'd put all American troops under Canadian command so you could train us, because you people know what you're doing over here.' That's pretty amazing."
Speaking about her own appointment to the government, Wallin said she is a believer in "a reformed senate."
"How senators get into their chairs is quite another question, but I think that the senate itself has an important role."
Wallin has pledged to step down and run as a candidate for her seat if Saskatchewan should ever have a senate election.
Though she left the province in 1979, Wallin says she still has many ties to Saskatchewan, returning several times a month to get feedback from residents and to visit her family in Wadena.
"You have to be here in order to sense and know and feel what it is that people are interested in. So I will always keep my ties here. It's home."
