Local candidates ready for ‘important election’

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This article was published 17/03/2016 (3814 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Over the next month, candidates in Brandon East and Brandon West will be out in full force.

So far, there are five candidates between the two constituencies. In Brandon East, NDP incumbent Drew Caldwell is facing two challengers: PC candidate Len Isleifson and Liberal candidate Vanessa Hamilton. Across the city in Brandon West, PC incumbent Reg Helwer is facing NDP candidate Linda Ross. No Liberal candidate has been announced.

“My message is going to be exactly what it’s always been: that there is one party that builds Brandon, and one government that builds Brandon, that’s been consistent year in and year out,” Caldwell said. “The only party and the only candidate that is committed to building Brandon is the NDP, and every single investment that we have made has been opposed by the other parties.”

Brandon East is shaping up to be an interesting race, with three former city councillors vying for the spot. The constituency has been held by the New Democrats since 1969, and Caldwell has held the seat since 1999.

Candidates didn’t mince their words on Day 1 of the campaign. Caldwell focused on the Tory leader, Brian Pallister, rather than his local opponents.

“Brandon has never been confronted with an extremist leader of the nature of Brian Pallister before,” Caldwell said, while also reaffirming his commitment to the Wheat City.

“Brandon is my home, it’s where I was born and raised, and my priority is building Brandon,” he said.

Meanwhile, Isleifson spoke about what he’s hearing at the doorsteps.

“Going door to door, talking to people, we know they’re ready for a change to go blue,” he said. “It’s not one specific item, it’s a number of things that people want to see changed. Health care, education, infrastructure, things like that. People are ready for a change.”

Isleifson and Hamilton are taking leaves of absences from their jobs to focus their time on the campaign.

“The priorities are connecting with residents because for far too long they haven’t been consulted in the process,” Hamilton said. “So whether it be education or health care or our infrastructure deficit, the main priority is consulting and connecting with residents and coming up with solutions together.”

Hamilton will officially resign from her Riverview ward seat on Brandon City Council tomorrow. Isleifson also previously held the Riverview ward seat.

“My time on council for the last year and half will help me going into this campaign, and as MLA because I got to know the issues first-hand being a councillor,” Hamilton said. “There’s a lot of projects and issues that are connected from council to the province, for sure.”

Isleifson was proud to see Pallister in Brandon to kick off the campaign, and said it shows the team effort of the party.

“When the leader can come out and really help us promote the platform, the policy, it shows a united team,” he said. “So I think it’s great, especially on Day 1.”

In Brandon West, Helwer is in his first re-election campaign and said he is thrilled to see how much work is underway by party volunteers.

“We hope to have a lot of fun. We did last time and that’s the plan this time,” he said.

Helwer said the main message of the campaign is that it is a “referendum on (Premier) Greg Selinger.”

“People are still upset about the PST, especially as we go further west,” he said. “We see people going to Saskatchewan to buy, and Manitoba business is suffering, Manitoba families are suffering.”

Others are concerned about the downturn of the oilpatch and potentially losing their jobs.

“They want to make sure that they find more opportunities and that’s something that a Brian Pallister government can do is bring more opportunity to Manitoba,” he said.

<t0>Ross, a longtime Brandon School Division trustee, will be taking a leave from the board during the campaign. She will be involved in several debates and forums during

the campaign, as well as regular meet-and-greets with constituents. <t-1>

“I think that this is a really important election because the future of families is at stake here,” Ross said. “I’m really concerned about a change to a Conservative government and what that might mean. Pallister has said that he’s going to make huge tax cuts, but he hasn’t said how he’s going to do that and that really worries me.”

Ross remembers education cuts coming “fast and furious” when she was first on the school board in the 1990s. She also saw the impact of health-care cuts in her position as dean of health studies at Brandon University.

“Nursing became a very unattractive profession … so enrolment in nursing programs went down the tubes,” she said. “We’ve almost recovered from that, but it’s been almost two decades … That’s the kind of thing you could make that cut today but the effects last forever.”

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