Isleifson acclaimed as PC candidate in Brandon East

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This article was published 27/04/2019 (2534 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Len Isleifson will again carry the Progressive Conservative torch in Brandon East after running uncontested for the nomination.

He was officially nominated Thursday morning, marking his bid for re-election in the traditional NDP stronghold.

“I’m feeling excellent and excited. It shows that there is a will from the community to keep doing what we’re doing and from myself in this role, it’s really an opportunity to continue the work.”

He said his plan is to push the work the current government is doing into the future and into a new session of the legislature.

Isleifson was first elected in the 2016 provincial election, securing 52 per cent of the vote. Drew Caldwell, the incumbent NDP MLA at the time, won 36 per cent of the vote and Liberal Vanessa Hamilton received just under 12 per cent.

“It’s an honourable and a humbling thing that the community is behind you, and they want you in there to represent them again. I take that as a good step and, hey, I must have done something right.”

Lonnie Patterson was nominated as the NDP candidate in the riding in late March.

Isleifson said he has been knocking on doors since the last election and listening to the concerns of people living and working in the riding.

“We have a lot of work to do, there’s no doubt about that, and we’re going to continue to be at the doorstep every single day that we can and listen to constituents. l put their interests, their ideas, their concerns at the forefront.”

Taxation is on people’s minds, but many are happy with the coming PST decrease by one per cent. The biggest issues are health care and education, which he said are improving under the current government.

“We do hear at the doors about both education and health care, which is really good because that allows us to see where we’re at, where we have gone and what we still have to do.”

He also hailed the announcement of a new school in the riding, Maryland Park School, which is set to be open by the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year.

His one regret from the last campaign is not getting to meet every voter in the electoral division, something Isleifson said he wants to rectify in the next campaign.

“Unfortunately, when you get to a door, someone may not be home. We definitely did not speak to every individual voter in Brandon East in 2016, but we knocked on every single door, so I guess if I could change anything … I would really like to meet individually every single voter.”

The riding itself has shifted since the last time voters went to the polls. The north hill, previously split between Brandon East and Brandon West by 18th Street, was transferred to the riding of Spruce Woods in 2018. This was done to reflect Brandon’s growing population, but Isleifson said he doesn’t anticipate it will greatly affect election results.

“It’ll have an impact for sure on voter turnout in those respective constituencies … We’re just going to continue to support our area here and, obviously, once the next election is over, between the three MLAs here we’re going to support everyone anyways.”

While specific election platforms have not been released, Premier Brian Pallister confirmed to an audience in Brandon on Thursday that an election will not be held during Manitoba 150 celebrations. Isleifson said his goal is to continue bringing the area’s voices to the provincial stage, whenever the next election happens.

“We’re going to continue to make sure voices of people in Brandon East are heard on Broadway and I continue to bring that to the table whenever I can when something comes up — we’re going to continue to do so.”

» dmay@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @DrewMay_