The Saskatchewan Party Leadership Debates are taking part around the Province starting October 19th. The debate in Weyburn at the Cugnet Centre, November 30th.

The Candidates have started their tours around the Province.

Scott Moe came to Weyburn last week on September 13th, announcing a policy to do with "diversifying the Saskatchewan presence around the world when it comes to trade and export."

You can read more on that announcement and here.

This week on Wednesday, Alanna Koch, Saskatchewan Party Leadership Candidate, came to Weyburn and spoke with James Brackpool from Discover Weyburn.

Koch discussed her policy principles.

"Those principles are things that I have believed in my whole life and would bring to the table as the leader; Free market solutions, Free Trade, A competitive business climate, fiscally responsible government, science-based decision making, that we make sure that we take care of our most vulnerable and that growth and prosperity of our economy is a benefit to all citizens of Saskatchewan."

When asked about scrapping the tax on Insurance premiums, Koch said "What I've said about the tax on insurance is that  I would look at it. I haven't actually said I've made a decision to scrap it but I have heard about it from members and the people of Saskatchewan, therefore, it needs another look. So that's what I would do if elected as the leader I would ensure that we would review it and see if it was exactly what we needed to do as a government and perhaps there's something different we needed to do upon review."

When asked about how to deal with distractions such as the Global Transportation Hub, Koch said how it is important to talk about the positives of the Global Transportation Hub.

"We've had our challenging side of the GTH, which obviously needs to still be considered once we see the results of the RCMP investigation for example but the other side of the GTH  issue, which is I think a story we haven't told enough, which is the exciting part of the GTH, the investment side, the success side of the GTH as an important part of our infrastructure, to get our goods to market. We are an exporting province. We have seen hundreds of millions of dollars invested in the GTH by Loblaws and CP Rail, by other companies that have come in and said it's a great place to do business."

"While it may be a bit of a distraction, I like to use it to tell the story that hasn't been told about the GTH."

As deputy minister to the Premier and Cabinet Secretary,  Koch is not a member of Caucus.

"For me, the relationship with Caucus is one based on the relationships I've built as being a senior public servant working with them directly on implementing government direction and getting to know them through committee work and that kind of thing. So the Caucus for me is a group of people I know well and I'm friends with a lot of them."

Koch said that if elected as a leader, it would be the Caucus would be working with.  She would need to be elected in a riding which would happen in a by-election.

The other Saskatchewan Party Leader hopefuls are Ken Cheveldayoff, Tina Beaudry-Mellor, and Gord Wyant.