Use of firehall raises eyebrows

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This article was published 26/09/2011 (5447 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

New Democratic Party Leader Greg Selinger bristled when questioned if using Brandon Firehall No. 1 for a campaign announcement on Saturday was unethical.

The announcement featured two diagonally parked ambulances, which appeared to be put in place by on-duty staff at the firehall, a legion of both on- and off-duty firefighter/paramedics and an NDP message banner located behind a podium that directly blocked some of the garage doors.

“We have done many announcements with firefighters in their facilities where it actually improves services to the people in Brandon, so this is an example of improving the services to the people in Brandon,” Selinger said after making his second announcement in Brandon on Saturday.

“We just did an announcement downtown on the streets of Brandon which are also controlled by the City of Brandon and I didn’t think you saw a conflict of interest there. The streets and sidewalks are part of the City of Brandon too and there’s no conflict of interest doing it there.

“We’re doing it where it makes sense to communicate the message, better service for Brandonites.”

Progressive Conservative Leader Hugh McFadyen said he would never ask to use police stations or firehalls for announcements, “because we don’t believe it’s appropriate to tie up public safety personnel with political events.”

“Tying up a fire station that is used for public safety is really not the way to go,” McFadyen said.

“We had a justice announcement (Saturday in Brandon) at a public park with an off-duty police officer there because we didn’t want to tie up people involved in public safety with a political announcement.”

Brandon Mayor Shari Decter Hirst said the request to use the firehall for a political announcement was sent to her office and that she approved it.

“I’ve got no problem with it because (the firehall) is a public building and in fact, if the Tories had asked to do an announcement outside a building, I’ve got no problem with that,” Decter Hirst said.

“If the Liberals or the Conservatives want to theme an announcement and utilize civic backdrops, I have no problem with that. They called and asked if they could do it and I said yes.”

Decter Hirst was not concerned about any potential hinderance to Brandon’s emergency services during the announcement.

“I’m sure the firefighters would be seeing the emergency as a priority,” Decter Hirst said.

Selinger’s use of Brandon emergency services staff and a working firehall for an election campaign announcement raised the eyebrows of Brandon deputy Mayor Jim McCrae, the councillor for Meadows ward.

“Well you know, there could very well be ethical questions about that,” McCrae said. “My eyebrows are twitching a bit at the idea of the use of public staff for this purpose. I try to put myself in Shari’s position and we agreed that we all have our politics and that they should stay outside city hall. I’d like to know more about this. If anyone in the Tory organization were to consult me about such an announcement, (I’d say) I don’t think that’s the way to use our staff. I don’t think it’s right and it should have been done a different way. I don’t think anyone could have done anything about them standing across the street and using the firehall as a backdrop that way.”

Coun. Len Isleifson (Riverview) had attended an earlier Progressive Conservative law and order announcement where candidates Reg Helwer (Brandon West) and Mike Waddell (Brandon East) used the sidewalk of the East End Community Centre, and no uniformed or on-duty police officers were present.

“I guess all I can say was that I appreciate what Reg and Mike did on the sidewalk, even at the East End Community Centre, they were not on the property itself. They were just on the sidewalk,” Isleifson said. “It’s the fire chief’s property and if he’s allowing that, I’ll stand behind the city to do whatever they need to do … They should be mindful of where they are having it. I’m a politician and I can sleep well at night. I hope they can.”

The tactic was also panned Liberal Leader Dr. Jon Gerrard.

“It should not be used for that purpose,” Gerrard said. “There the NDP go again. They should not be politicizing emergency services that way and the election act was written to prevent this. It needs to be tightened for the next election.”

When she approved the use of civic property for the announcement, Decter Hirst had requested the NDP contact Brandon Fire Chief Brent Dane and ask his permission as well, which a New Democratic Party spokesmen said was granted.

Coun. Murray Blight (Victoria), himself a former police officer, had no issue with Selinger using the firehall for his announcement.

“I don’t get bent out of shape over things like that,” Blight said. “Just look after the well-being of our community and that’s all we ask for.”

»kborkowsky@brandonsun.com