Oleson has more to give than he leads us to believe

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/10/2022 (1185 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Elliott Oleson does not expect to win the contest to become Brandon’s next mayor. Hours after filing his nomination papers, he told the Sun that “realistically, I’m not going to win this election. I don’t have the establishment backing, I don’t have any credentials on paper. I don’t have the backing of the chamber [of commerce] and basically, there’s not much chance I’ll win.”

During the same interview, he was open about his years-ago struggle with alcohol and the fact he is currently unemployed.

Oleson seems to think that makes him un-electable, despite the fact that so many individuals in our city (including past mayors and city councillors) have at times been touched by alcoholism and unemployment.

I think he’s wrong. I have a lot of respect for people who are willing to be up-front about their challenges and aspects of their past that they aren’t proud of. And I have even more respect for those who have worked hard to overcome them and make a meaningful contribution to their families and community.

That’s what I see when I listen to Oleson, read what he has written and consider the “faint hope” challenge he has taken on in this election. A short journey through the Brandon Sun archives makes my point.

On Feb. 13, 2019, Oleson penned a letter to the editor in which he defended Canada against by what was known as the “Yellow Vest” protests. He wrote that “there is a reason that people from all over the world want to come here. There is a reason that Canadians are welcome by default pretty much planet-wide. We have formed an overall good country composed of reasonable people who have a pretty decent life.

“We have poverty, but our poverty is luxury in the eyes of the world’s poor. Our health-care system has some serious problems, but they are problems that pale in comparison to those of the United States and many others. What we call oppression would seem like loving indulgence to someone who knows a truly oppressive government.”

Oleson’s a good writer, he’s smart and he makes a cogent argument that reflects the views of many.

Nine days later, he wrote another letter to the editor, in which he responded to Judy Wilson-Raybould’s allegations regarding the SNC Lavalin affair. He wrote that “allowing for a person’s own truth is a wonderful way of embracing the totality of that person, but it is not functional in the world we inhabit. To accept that each person is entitled to recognition of their own truth is to admit defeat in the face of the existential questions facing our nation.”

Oleson’s right. There is only one set of facts, not multiple “truths.”

In his March 19, 2019 letter to the editor, he took issue with the provincial government’s decision to revoke the right to appeal decisions made by the Residential Tenancies Commission. He was even more concerned that the decision was attached to legislation that would allow victims of domestic and sexual violence to leave the situation without worrying about their lease.

He wrote that “attaching questionable provisions to bullet-proof legislation is nothing new and it is not unique to Pallister and his crew. Parties at all levels and of all stripes have used this cheap ploy to avoid answering questions on dubious proposals and this is a case in point.”

In his Feb. 4, 2020 letter to the editor, Oleson responded to columnist Kerry Auriat’s assertion that the left side of the political spectrum was dying. On the issue of regulations, Oleson said this: “Where Kerry favours deregulation, for instance, I would prefer to pay up-front to have regulations in place and enforced rather than pay more later to correct problems the regulations were in place to prevent.”

On Aug. 27, 2020, Oleson was involved in a small protest outside the Brandon School Division office, in which it was argued that the division was not taking adequate measures to protect school-age children from COVID-19. Oleson is quoted in the Sun’s report as saying “if these are the people in charge of our education, I’m surprised my children can read.”

There are other letters to the editor, but fast forward to Aug. 16 of this year, when he penned a letter that belongs in the LTE hall of fame. In that letter (“An attitude of gratitude”), he sarcastically discussed many issues currently facing the city, including the proposed $30-million wastewater lift station.

On that subject, he wrote that “to borrow money for the benefit of the whole of Brandon’s population would be foolish when we can instead use it to benefit a very few people and allow large companies to add to their already substantial resources. Brandonites are generous that way.”

That’s Grade-A sarcasm, and a bulls-eye to boot.

Finally, I have a challenge for you: go back a few pages and read the answers to the “Question of the week” that has been posed to our two mayoral candidates, Oleson and Jeff Fawcett. Cover the names at the top and try to guess which candidate provided which answer.

You will likely be surprised that it’s Oleson who has given the more cogent, coherent response. And, if you go back to last week’s question on infrastructure, you will see that Oleson’s answer is far clearer than the meandering word salad delivered by Fawcett.

Given Fawcett’s 12 years of experience at the city council table and front-runner status, that should not be the case.

Having said all of that, Oleson may well be right that he has no realistic hope of winning the election to be Brandon’s next mayor. Even if that is true, however, he is winning a contest for something that may be even more important:

Our respect.

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