After participating in talks around a potential merger, the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party of Saskatchewan says it will not move forward with a coalition with the Buffalo Party.

“We did not come to this decision lightly. We were hoping to come to some sort of compromise but unfortunately it just isn’t going to work out at this time,” PC Party leader Rose Buscholl said in the announcement.

According to the PC’s, the Buffalo Party’s policy platform did not align with the party’s beliefs, specifically saying it focused heavily on federal and international agendas.

“We have too many issues right here in Saskatchewan-like the ever-growing debt, health care crisis, problems foreign ownership of farmland and affordability-that we need to focus on more,” Buscholl added in the announcement.

“As the party of Diefenbaker, it is said that charity starts at home, so this is where our focus needs to be.”

The party has stated that the main goal of the proposed merger was to ensure it run a full slate of 61 candidates provincewide.

“We are still going to do our best to run sixty-one candidates,” Buscholl said.