Q&A with Manitoba Liberal Party Leader Dougald Lamont

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This article was published 03/08/2019 (2436 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Liberal Party Leader Dougald Lamont will soon face his first general election both as party leader and as a sitting MLA.

The St. Boniface MLA was elected in a 2018 by-election — a year after he was elected leader of the party. The Brandon Sun recently spoke with Lamont about the past two years of his leadership, the party’s election strategy and why Westmanites should give the provincial Liberals their votes.

The party is committed to running a government that works for everyone, Lamont said, and that includes those outside of Winnipeg’s Perimeter Highway. He touted the party’s platform planks that he said would have an impact locally, such as the addictions plan — which itself was announced in Brandon — and promised more details on economic development proposals.

The party has “overhauled” many parts of its organization in anticipation of the September vote and is in its strongest position in the last 25 years, Lamont said, adding that he is committed to nominating strong candidates in all of the province’s 57 constituencies.

The Manitoba Liberal Party only has one candidate nominated locally so far: Kim Longstreet in Brandon East.

Drew May: Why should voters specifically in Westman vote Liberal in the Sept. 10 provincial election?

Dougald Lamont: I think we committed to running a government that works for everyone, and that certainly includes Westman. When you look at the polices we’ve done to date, we really have made sure that we’re sending out stuff that makes life better for all Manitobans, that we reach out beyond the perimeter of Winnipeg. If you look at whether its addictions recovery treatment — that would happen in Brandon — we’re going to be announcing further plans for economic development and those will be available for entrepreneurs who work in Brandon. We have a Manitoba police service, which covers all of Manitoba, so we certainly support the rural areas around Brandon and in Westman. Part of it is we have a provincial vision and we actually have a plan and a vision to move forward on that the other parties don’t.

DM: This election was called 13 months early, so it’s obviously going to put the parties in a different spot, but how is the Liberal party in a different position heading into this election than heading into the last election?

DL: That’s a good question. We have four incumbent seats, whereas before we had one. We have official party status, which we haven’t had in 25 years. We have a new leader in the legislature and I think in terms of fundraising, in terms of organization we’re better off than we have been in about 25 years. All those are very different and we have a very — when it comes to the team running it — we have a great mix of people who are veterans with a lot of experience and young people with new ideas and a lot of energy. So all those things are very different going into this campaign.

DM: In a similar vein, after the 2016 election the Manitoba Liberal Party was in a position to rebuild and reorganize. So since you won the (St. Boniface) by-election and became leader of the party, what have you been doing to reinvigorate the party machinery?

DL: Well, we’ve overhauled all sorts of stuff. We have a new board, we work much harder to communicate with the membership on regular basis. I think we’ve added something like 3,000 members in the last two to three months, partly due to the upcoming election. We’ve revamped fundraising, so we have people who are donating to the party who’ve never donated to us before and we have a level of organization in terms of getting ready and getting candidates ready that is I think above what we’ve been at in any point in the last 25 years.

DM: How so? Would you be able to elaborate on that?

DL: I mean, some of it is just — we now have an infrastructure in place. We have people working on election readiness as one example but the other is we have people who have a lot of experience running campaigns. Some of that is just sharing that experience and making sure we’re training people up as we bring new people in. One of the thing we did last year in St. Boniface is we wanted to run that campaign in a way of setting an example of how campaigns can be run. A lot of it just basic shoe-leather, a lot of it is just making sure people knock as many doors as they can but we showed in a very convincing way what a difference that kind of a campaign can make. We took a seat that had been held by the NDP for 20 years and won with 42 per cent of the vote in a summer by-election. Some of it is just we have the knowledge and we’re organized now that we’re sharing that knowledge of campaigns and making sure that we are giving candidates the tools they need to succeed.

DM: Speaking of candidates, I know we’re little bit more than a month away from the election, but how is candidate recruitment going across the province?

DL: Good, we are nominating. We had four nominations earlier this week. … So we’re in the process of getting everybody into place and we expect to have a full slate as close to the writ as possible — keeping in mind we don’t know when the writ is going to drop.

DM: Speaking about here in Brandon and Brandon West, in the last election the candidate Billy Moore made a comment saying the Liberal party would close hospitals. … Have you done anything to improve candidate vetting to make sure you’re getting really solid people in place?

DL: Yes. That’s why we’ve set up an entire green-light process that’s very thorough. Frankly I’m not sure that either of the leaders of the other parties would be able to pass it and run for the Manitoba Liberal Party.

DM: Really, so it’s that thorough?

DL: Well, just their past statements alone would probably rule them out.

DM: I know that we are talked about this before but in terms the province’s cannabis revenue, you’ve been saying that there will be cannabis revenue there, but the premier said there won’t be. Have you got an idea of how much revenue there might be from cannabis?

DL: There were two different things. We have actually tried to obtain that information from the government. We put in a Freedom of Information request and it has been ignored. What we have been trying to do it get information from the government of what their revenues are and they’ve been ignoring their own Freedom of Information law, so we’ve been unable get that information. This is one of the challenges in getting this information out. … In terms of cannabis revenue there was an initial report by Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries that said that in the second or third year of cannabis sales that Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries would have $95 million in revenues. That is Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries revenue, that does not include the other fees. There’s a social responsibility fee of six per cent, there is also a federal excise tax, which the provincial government is charging right now. There is actual money flowing into the province’s coffers and into Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries’ coffers and one the reasons they said there wouldn’t be revenues is because they’re already trying to apply costs to it. Basically, the premier is offering dishonest accounting…

DM: Moving on little bit here, should you form government on Sept. 10, there’s the question about what the relationship would look like with the federal government. So if the Manitoba Liberals do form government, what would your relationship look like with Justin Trudeau’s government?

DL: Basically, we’re willing to work with anybody and part of it is we have to have a productive partnership where we’re co-operating with other levels of government. No matter who’s in power federally, no matter who’s the mayor Winnipeg or who’s the mayor Brandon, we have to have relationship where we’re working together and cooperating. That’s not happening with the Pallister government. Right now, there is an ongoing — at least one lawsuit that the Pallister government has against the federal government. … We believe in negotiation, we believe in co-operation. No mater who’s in power in Ottawa, our goal is to work with them productively in the best interests of Manitobans and to stand up for Manitoba when it matters.

DM: Speaking of which, we do have the federal election on Oct. 21. I’m curious, what do you think the impact of having the provincial election so close to the federal one is going to have on the campaign?

DL: … All the parties are at an equal disadvantage. The Conservative, the NDP and the Liberals are all gearing up for federal and provincial elections in Manitoba at the same time so it puts a strain on resources. … Every party will face challenges, but it makes it difficult for all three parties because they’re all competing for volunteers, donors and because you a bunch of federal campaigns — you have people who are all trying to get elected or re-elected at the same time this is happening provincially, so it’s unfortunate and it’s confusing, but I think that’s what the premier’s intention was.

DM: One of the big issues has been the carbon tax and that it has been placed on Manitoba. … But if the Liberals did get elected, what would your solution to this relatively unpopular tax be?

DL: To be clear, the federal government only did this because Brian Pallister tore up his own deal. He could have negotiated a better deal. … We made it clear in our green plan that we would renegotiate, go back to the negotiating table with the federal government so Manitoba can take back control of that climate plan and that taxation. We would be able to work with Manitobans to be able to make sure we’re actually dealing with the climate crisis, which is an incredibly serious issue, one of the most serious issues we face. It’s really quite unfortunate, frankly, that Brian Pallister is more interested in playing politics than getting anything done.

DM: Specially, after the renegotiations, what form would you like to see the carbon tax take in Manitoba?

DL: I can’t prejudge that. Part of that is to have the negotiations. … When it comes to rebates we would like to see it be more progressive so people who are harder hit by the carbon tax get a bigger rebate and people who can afford it get less. The other is we would actually put the money into investing in Manitoba and investing in green solutions that will actually make a difference. We would have innovation funds and funds to help communities cope with climate change but also to do what we can to reverse it. We have a very detailed plan to make that happen. Part of it is working with farmers, part of it is about green fuels in Manitoba and creating green jobs. So the fact is that we actually have a solution to this, we actually have a detailed plan of how to make Manitoba carbon neutral by 2030 and again this is one of the most important things we can dal with. It affects every single Manitoban and we have a plan to deal with it, which will actually grow the economy in the long run. The other is that by giving people alternatives it makes it easier to switch away from carbon fuels.

DM: The last thing I wanted to ask— and this goes back to Westman and the candidates here — but so far there is only Kim Longstreet nominated here in Brandon East, are you anticipating that you’ll have a full roster of candidates?

DL: Absolutely. Like I said, we are nominating. … We’re going to have a full slate for the election.

» dmay@brandonsun.com

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