Being their next-door neighbour to the north makes it hard to get away from the American election going on today, especially so when you live as close to the border as Estevan and the towns of southeast Saskatchewan.

For Souris-Moose Mountain MP Dr. Robert Kitchen, the election is not too much of a concern. Obviously, it may play a factor in trade negotiations depending on who wins, but Kitchen would much rather see Canadian worry about the issues in their country first.

"What I think unfortunately is that our mainstream press is focused more on the U.S. economy and U.S. issues than actually on Canadian issues. They focus on that more so than the issues that we have here in Canada and that's a concern."

No matter which party ends up winning the election today or over the next month as votes are counted, Kitchen says that the two countries will have to work together no matter what. There are two issues that Kitchen cares about more than anything else in the results, one of which is how it will affect Canadian and American trade relations.

"The concerns we have are with the trade agreements that we have, and where that will transpire. For us, the Keystone Pipeline is something that is obviously important for this riding and you have President Trump who is a big supporter of Keystone, and we've heard comments from the challenger on both sides of whether he supports it or not."

The other of the two issues is one that's a little more unique to Estevan than most places in the country. Our proximity to the border creates a lot of job opportunities that cross over the border, whether it be trucking goods, involvement in the oil field, or any other number of things.

"With the oil and gas industry, we do have workers that are commuting back and forth and being able to do that without restrictions, and that's good because that industry needs to continue. The big challenge is those who do live on the border that have significant others or relationships with people down in the States and the challenges that they have getting to their properties, and that's a concern but a lot of that is being predicated by COVID 19."

Overall, Kitchen says that he is keeping an eye on the election going on down south, but the two countries have been close partners for a long time.