Berthelette eager to talk with everyone

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This article was published 06/08/2025 (232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Over the next few weeks ahead of the Spruce Woods byelection, the Sun will talk with people in communities around the riding on what’s important to them and the area.

RIVERS — With candidates hitting the pavement and knocking on doors, people in Rivers say health care, infrastructure and community support are the most important topics heading into a byelection.

The Sun followed the NDP campaign in Rivers on Wednesday, and spoke to voters ahead of the Aug. 26 byelection.

NDP candidate Ray Berthelette, along with two volunteers, knocked on doors, spoke with voters and left leaflets when some people didn’t answer their door.

“The campaign is going very smoothly. Lots of volunteers, great teamwork, knocking on a lot of doors, having great conversations,” Berthelette told the Sun outside a home on Fourth Avenue in Rivers.

The walk-along skipped a lot of houses on Fourth Avenue. Berthelette said he was focusing on hitting NDP supporters while media tagged along, but that his team would go back to hitting every door once the Sun left.

As the NDP focused on its supporters, Berthelette was mostly met with wide smiles. Residents said they never have candidates of any affiliation come to their doors.

“We’ve never seen any candidate. Ray was the first one I’ve ever seen,” Judy McClelland said at her doorstep.

“I’ve never had anybody come to my house before, so that’s pretty good,” said Derrick Scott, who lived a few houses down from McClelland. “Shows that you care actually.”

Scott said he’s happy with how the NDP has done since it came to power. He also asked Berthelette to put up a lawn sign on his yard, to which the candidate happily obliged.

Berthelette said his strategy is to just speak with people, and that he’s focused on knocking on all doors, no matter the income of the people who live there.

“We want to make sure we we’re trying to be as representative as we can, and we don’t pick it based on income or perceived income. If you’ve got a nice house, we’ll try and knock on your door as well as if you don’t have a nice house.”

It’s important to understand everyone, even if they aren’t NDP supporters, he said.

“I talk to everybody who wants to talk to me,” Berthelette said. “Sometimes they’re not willing to vote for your party. But they still want to have a discussion with somebody who might be the MLA (after) the upcoming byelection.”

Before the NDP campaign team arrived in the afternoon, the Sun talked with people in Rivers about their concerns.

Ian Brennan, who lives in Chimo Resort east of Rivers, said the provincial government needs to do more to attract people and businesses to small towns.

“I’ve been looking for some oversight by the government in areas like this to see an incentive for businesses to come in and actually grow in the area of industry,” Brennan said. “To employ locals who literally have no avenues for growth and development of their life.”

Brennan, 40, said there’s no incentive for companies to move to the area, and help grow the local economy.

“Why are we not looking at industries outside of Canada to come into rural areas like this that develop here and bring in people to actually work in these industries?” he asked. “We’re not getting people of a young age to come with the families and invest in these areas.”

Brennan said at this point, he would discourage his children from staying in the area, as there’s more opportunities in cities.

“I have small children, and I will for sure tell them to leave this area and go and work somewhere else, or go to a different university because there’s no incentive for them to stay here.”

He suggested an independent body be set up by the province to help stimulate the economy for rural communities.

“I think that areas like Rivers and such, they should be given a certain amount of money for economic growth,” Brennan said. “There should be a panel put together that’s out of the town that looks at a town such as Rivers and sees the population, the farming community and what they can bring to the area to stimulate growth.”

He said governments work on four-year mandates, and that hurts because people’s livelihoods and jobs aren’t based in the same way. He’s hoping the next candidate won’t be that way.

“We’re always looking at the four-year plan of the government that’s in place, but there’s never a longevity of ‘let’s actually do best for the people that pay their taxes in these areas.’”

Additional funding should also go into recreational and green services, he said, like pools and parks. Currently, most of his family’s recreational activities are spent after driving to Brandon, instead of staying in town.

Madisen Kirton, 26, said she used to work at the personal care home in Rivers in the kitchen, and saw how things could be better. She wants the government to improve the food patients eat.

“I’d say better food quality for the patients, more fresh stuff,” she said outside of her Main Street home in town. “I know it’s expensive, but that would really benefit them, instead of everything being from a box.”

Kirton’s mom, who didn’t want to be named, said she has had to bring relatives some food from the store in order for them to get good quality food.

“My grandparents live at the PCH here, they’re always understaffed, overworked,” Kirton added.

She also said roads need to be rebuilt, and that they aren’t in great shape.

“They’re terrible, especially (Highways) 25 and 270 are really not good. They haven’t paved them properly. They just do spots and leave it.”

She said past flooding and the constant flow of truckers coming through takes a toll on the roads.

» alambert@brandonsun.com