More local candidates nominated

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This article was published 26/08/2021 (1848 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The field of candidates for Westman’s federal ridings has expanded.

The Liberal Party of Canada put out a release on its website Tuesday stating that Linda Branconnier has been acclaimed as the party’s Brandon-Souris candidate.

Though no specific information about Branconnier has been released by the party and she has not appeared on the list of the party’s candidates, research suggests she works for Priority Financial in Winnipeg.

Up in Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa, Shirley Lambrecht announced on Facebook on Monday that she is the Green Party of Canada’s candidate for the riding.

According to an article from the Cowichan Valley Citizen newspaper in British Columbia from Aug. 19, Lambrecht was one of three candidates vying for the Green nomination in the Vancouver Island riding of Cowichan-Malahat Langford.

However, another article from the same paper from Aug. 23 said another candidate had been selected for that riding.

Despite coming from B.C., the Citizen wrote that she was born and raised in Saskatchewan.

One of her competitors in the attempt to unseat Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa Conservative incumbent Dan Mazier is Liberal candidate Kevin Carlson.

“I’ve always been a supporter of the Liberal Party and the plan that they have for us as a country,” Carlson said.

Though he currently lives in The Pas, which is in another riding to the north, he is originally from Winnipegosis, roughly 60 kilometres northwest of Dauphin. Carlson, who is Métis, said he grew up on the nearby lake as his family ran a commercial fishery.

“Pretty much all my family still lives in the riding,” he said. “I thought this was a great opportunity to go home and help not only my family, but my friends and the communities that gave me my start in life.”

This is Carlson’s first time running for public office, but it’s not his first time working in a government role. From 1997 to 2011, he was the assistant to the grand chief for Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak.

His professional career has also seen him work as a sales consultant for the Ford dealership in The Pas and currently as the executive director of The Pas Friendship Centre. As a volunteer, he’s a member of the local Kinsmen Club and served as the vice-governor for Kin Canada’s district two.

“I’m a family guy, first and foremost,” he said. “I’ve got three children, and they’ve blessed me with three grandchildren. The one things the pandemic did was force everybody to sit home and I got a chance to really spend some quality time being grandpa at home.”

Asked what the biggest topic in this election campaign is, he said it was the economy.

“I think the biggest thing, especially coming out of the last year’s we’ve had is really growing and developing the economy going forward,” he said. Folks have had a really difficult time and we need to ensure they get the loving guidance and policies develop that going to help that everybody has a stable footing going forward. Hopefully it’s another 100 years before we see another pandemic.”

With the latest nominations, the only major parties without local candidates are the Green Party of Canada in Brandon-Souris and the NDP in Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa.

Here are the candidates for both Westman ridings as of Wednesday afternoon.

• Brandon-Souris: Larry Maguire (Conservative), Linda Branconnier (Liberal), Whitney Hodgins (NDP), Tylor Baer (PPC).

• Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa: Dan Mazier (Conservative), Shirley Lambrecht (Green), Kevin Carlson (Liberal), Lori Falloon-Austin (Maverick), Donnan McKenna (PPC)

Elections Canada’s deadline for candidate nominations is Aug. 30. Election day is Sept. 20, while advance voting takes place between Sept. 10-13. Canadians can also vote in advance or vote from a riding they’re not a resident in by dropping by their local Elections Canada office.

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