Five Yorkton teens: the road from here to elected office

They were typical teenage boys when they lived in Yorkton in the 1970s, 80s, and into the early 90s. They came from different backgrounds, attended school here, took part in a variety of activities, pursued different goals, and left when they completed high school, four ending up in Alberta and one in Saskatoon.

A common factor for these five young men from Yorkton is that they ended up at higher levels of politics – three are now members of Parliament, one was an Alberta cabinet minister, one is an Alberta cabinet minister. All of them represent conservative parties, although they were definitely exposed to a wider range of political views back then, as is inevitable when we’re talking about Saskatchewan. 

They are Members of Parliament John Barlow, Brad Redekopp and Burton Bailey, as well as Alberta MLA and cabinet minister Searle Turton, and former Alberta MLA and cabinet minister Dave Rodney.

We agreed, from the start, that this podcast would not be about partisan political issues. Instead, we talked about their youth in Yorkton, their influences in life, and their views of how politics happens today.