Full slate of candidates for Sun’s election debate

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This article was published 07/03/2016 (3824 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The roster is set for The Brandon Sun’s candidates debate, after the city’s Progressive Conservative candidates in the provincial election both confirmed their attendance over the weekend.

On Friday, Reg Helwer, the Tory MLA in Brandon West, said he’d face NDP hopeful Linda Ross on the stage. The next day, Helwer’s counterpart in Brandon East, Tory candidate Len Isleifson, confirmed he’d join NDP incumbent Drew Caldwell and Liberal candidate Vanessa Hamilton on stage.

The debate, hosted by The Brandon Sun, Westman Communications Group and the Brandon Chamber of Commerce, will go on April 14 at the Keystone amphitheatre. The Brandon West debate starts at 6 p.m., with Brandon East following at 7:35 p.m. Both will be independently moderated with a panel that includes representatives from the chamber and the media and will be broadcast live on WCGtv and CKLQ radio.

Both Helwer and Isleifson said the delay in confirming came as a result of tight scheduling. The other candidates confirmed in February.

“Our most important time, really, is meeting people at the door. The forum that’s during the day, that works very well (because it helps to) to get out to the door at night. The (debates) that are at night, like (the Sun’s) makes it more difficult,” Helwer said. He later added that he had “strongly encouraged” organizers to combine their efforts into one debate.

At least four other debates are in the works locally, hosted by the Brandon University Students’ Union and Canadian Federation of Students, the Brandon Teachers’ Association and the Brandon School Division, the Brandon Neighbourhood Renewal Corp. and the Brandon Friendship Centre.

Helwer said that last election, he attending 13 of the 16 debates he was invited to.

Isleifson said it takes him about two days to prepare for a debate, which means as the requests stack up, it cuts down on valuable door-to-door time.

Eric Lawson, publisher of the The Brandon Sun, said while all debates are valuable, it is important that everyone vying for votes makes the Sun/Westman Communications Group debate because of its wider focus.

“What we wanted to do with these debates is make sure that a really broad range of issues can be discussed and a really broad range of people could attend. For that to happen, we really had to have all of the candidates,” Lawson said.

“It just means you’re going to have a much more lively discussion, a much more active discussion of the issues and a lot more back-and-forth. I think it’ll be better for the public. It will be better for the voters.”

Lawson said that should the Liberal party announce a candidate in Brandon West, he or she will also be invited to take the stage.

Isleifson, the one-time city councillor, agrees the debates are important.

“It’s an opportunity to bring our platform forward and tell why the PC government and myself are better choice than what else is there right now,” he said.

Despite that, neither Helwer nor Isleifson think their leader’s decision to turn down The Brandon Sun and Westman Communications Group leaders’ debate, set for one week earlier, will make their job more difficult.

Last week, Brian Pallister’s officials confirmed he’d face off against Premier Greg Selinger and Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari in the Brandon Chamber of Commerce leaders’ debate at noon on April 7, but not the Sun/WCG debate, which is free and broadcast on TV and radio later that evening.

“I can’t speak for Brian and I won’t. He’s been out to Brandon a number of times since the nomination meeting. He’s been through the province a number of times, and I believe he has two tours set up,” Isleifson said.

» tbateman@brandonsun.com

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