Helwer to leave provincial politics

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This article was published 06/01/2023 (1251 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Longtime Brandon West MLA and current Labour Minister Reg Helwer will not run for re-election later this year.

Serving as an MLA took a great toll on his family and he wishes to spend more time with them in retirement, Helwer wrote in a letter to Premier Heather Stefanson on Friday.

“As I look at the new and emerging talent in our [Progressive Conservative] Party, I am confident that now is the right time for me to step away from public life,” Helwer added. “Under your leadership, our party is evolving, and we have already attracted top-notch candidates.”

Helwer thanked his constituents for their support over 12 years in office. He also praised Stefanson and her government for leading the Tories to “be a more co-operative and consultative government” and improving relationships with municipalities, labour and Indigenous groups.

Thoughts of retirement started brewing during a 2019 battle with testicular cancer, Helwer told the Sun in a phone interview. Already in the thick of an election campaign that year, he pushed through then but has decided now to spend more time with family.

He said most of his favourite accomplishments as an MLA came from helping solve problems.

“A lot them are stories that can’t be told because they’re when we help individuals that asked us for help through the government process,” Helwer said. “Some of them are individuals, some of them are businesses and we were able to get to a good outcome for them. That always makes you feel exceptional.”

Among the changes the PC government has brought to Brandon and his constituency, Helwer named the Daly Overpass as well as expansions to CancerCare and dialysis services.

The minister said he had a good working relationship with Brandon’s previous mayor, Rick Chrest, and the two of them were able to accomplish several shared goals together.

That includes helping Brandon obtain federal funding for upgrades to the municipal water treatment plant, the largest infrastructure program in the city’s history.

Though Helwer is not running again, he said he would do whatever he can to help his party form the next government.

With Spruce Woods MLA and deputy premier Cliff Cullen announcing last week that he would also not seek re-election, two of Brandon’s three provincial constituencies will be without incumbents heading into this year’s election, which must take place on or before Oct. 3.

Brandon East PC incumbent Len Isleifson was announced last November as the party’s nominee for that constituency in the next election.

Helwer is the latest Tory to announce their departure from politics after Cullen, Cathy Cox, Eileen Clarke, Myrna Driedger, Alan Lagimodiere, Ralph Eichler, Ian Wishart, Blaine Pedersen and Dennis Smook had previously declared their intentions not to run again.

That means 10 of the party’s 36 sitting MLAs have decided against another term in office. Former finance minister Scott Fielding left his seat for a job in the private sector last June.

“Renewal happens all the time in elections,” Helwer said. “We’ve seen it before and we’ll see it again. I’m over the age of 60, I think that’s a good time to leave politics and I hope whomever replaces me is younger and has a different perspective.”

Helwer was first elected to office in 2011, taking over from former Brandon mayor Rick Borotsik, who served a single term under the Tories.

He was first added to cabinet as minister responsible for the civil service commission after the 2019 election, later serving as minister of central services and minister of infrastructure before assuming his current duties.

Brandon University political science professor Kelly Saunders said elections are a natural space for people in office to make their exits.

“But what is striking to me is the number,” Saunders said earlier this week. “It’s a quarter of their caucus and there are rumours circling from Winnipeg that there might be more.”

What also stuns Saunders is the timing of the announcements. Some departing MLAs like Driedger have been in politics for 25 or more years, and Saunders said people like that won’t have made the decision to leave overnight.

However, there are so many announced departures taking place within a short period of time, while the party is down heavily in the polls — especially on topics like health care — and within months of the next election.

“Why didn’t some of these members announce either last year in the spring or in the summer when there would have been more time for the party to recover?” she asked. “If you wanted to step aside and think about the best interests of your party, you would do it in a way that would minimize damage to the party.

“From a perception point of view, in the eyes of a lot of voters and in the eyes of critics of the party, they’re going to think ‘Oh wow, the party’s more worse off than we thought,’ because some of the most stalwart members are departing.”

However, Saunders adde, there is still enough time for the tide to turn in the Tories’ favour.

» cslark@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @ColinSlark