Tory candidate in Brandon East launches campaign

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This article was published 09/09/2011 (5524 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Busy noon-hour traffic at the intersection of First Street and Richmond Avenue highlighted the opening of Brandon East Progressive Conservative candidate Mike Waddell’s campaign office yesterday afternoon.

In opening his campaign office within rented space in the Ficek Insurance building on First Street, Waddell said his second attempt to unseat incumbent NDP MLA Drew Caldwell now feels “real.”

“In 2007, I was pretty raw. I was a rookie,” he said. “Now, our team is a little more battle hard and we’re ready to go. We’ve got great volunteers, and this gives them a place where they can go and stage out of. Now, it’s not being run out of people’s cars and houses and it gives us that central rallying point.

“And as far as the campaign itself, people are now aware. We noticed a real, distinct change from, say, Thursday or Friday last week … it’s like a switched flipped (with people).”

While his campaign launch did not offer much in the way of specific projects or initiatives that he would undertake in Brandon East if elected, Waddell reiterated published comments of earlier this week that he would spend his first 100 days as an MLA to meet with a number groups and residents.

“I’ve been told on the doorstep that people are often unable to reach their current MLA,” he said. “In my 100-day plan, I will hold town halls and be accessible and open to provide opportunities for people on their schedule to share their comments and concerns with me to ensure I remain aware of the challenges that I am already currently aware of facing individuals in Brandon East.”

In commenting on his party’s Winnipeg-centric, crime and public safety-focused week of campaign announcements, Waddell told the Sun that Brandon will most certainly benefit from his party’s commitment to use GPS technology to track released sex offenders, increase funding to the Winnipeg Police Service and RCMP ICE units and provide new funds to the City of Winnipeg Police Service to establish a centre of excellence for canine enforcement.

Waddell said he would personally like to see the proposed additional canine training capacity in Winnipeg result in an additional canine officer and dog team in Brandon and would also personally support a move towards mandatory public notices when sex offenders are released into the community.

Waddell said he would also love to see the creation of an indoor turf facility for Brandon’s various sporting groups, though he stressed that has not been rolled out as a party-specific strategy at this time.

However, Waddell said his campaign will not be about making grand promises with large price tags — it will be about ensuring that the concerns of every Brandonite will be taken to Winnipeg.

“I only make three guarantees on the doorstep and that is to listen more than I talk, to work my rear end off for the people of Brandon East and to make sure that I’m always available as that voice,” he said.

Waddell’s Tory running-mate in Brandon West, Reg Helwer, was the first out of the gates to open his campaign office in the former CKX building on Victoria Avenue on Aug. 25 with the help of provincial Leader Hugh McFadyen.

Brandon West and Brandon East Liberal candidates George Buri and Shaun Cameron will be joined by provincial Leader Jon Gerrard as they cut the ribbon on Buri’s campaign headquarters in the Corral Centre late this afternoon. Cameron tells the Sun he has been offered space within Buri’s headquarters as a courtesy, though he has not yet nailed down plans for a campaign office of his own.

No dates have been made available for the openings of Caldwell’s and Brandon West NDP candidate Jim Murray’s respective headquarters.

» adowd@brandonsun.com