Yesterday evening the three candidates vying for a seat at the Manitoba Legislature to represent the Spruce Woods Riding matched wits during the second Candidates' Debate. This was the second time the three went toe-to-toe in the past week, the first was last week in Souris.
The Spruce Woods Community Hall debate was very well attended and the audience sat through 90 minutes in full attention of the answers they heard to some straight-forward and oftentimes uncomfortable questions that were not prepared beforehand.
Brandon University Political Science Professor, Kelly Saunders, was joined by Brandon Sun columnist, Devon Ross and Sun journalist, Alex Lambert as the panel guests. The debate was officiated by Kerry Auriat.
NDP Candidate, Ray Berthelette, PC Candidate Colleen Robbins and Liberal Candidate Stephen Reid were asked their opinions on numerous topics, including the desperate need for more doctors and paramedics in this Riding, the attention needed in roads and highways, the sky-high levy placed on Canadian canola seed imports to China, rural vs urban within the Spruce Woods Riding, more funding for Assiniboine College, and whether Brandon should have safe injection sites like what is being planned for Winnipeg.
Hot topics that brought backlash included previous posts on social media by all three candidates, more particularly by PC Candidate Colleen Robbins' comments about residential schools, negative comments about unions, and Donald Trump purchasing Canada.
The following are each of the candidates' opening statements:
NDP Party of Manitoba, Ray Berthelette
Good evening. My name is Ray Berthelette. I'm a proud Metis person living in Brandon most of my adult life. My previous employment is I'm on a leave of absence from the government as executive assistant to Minister Simard.
Previous to that I did an 8-year term with Sutton Realty as a realtor and then about a 10-year term with UFCW as a union advocate union rep. Prior to that I did a bit of time in Thompson as a probation officer and worked at the jail here in Brandon.
So, I've got numerous experiences to deal with to help the residents of Spruce Woods constituency with problems because most of my jobs entail taking great notes and negotiating and working with people to get the results of the desire.
Liberal Party of Manitoba, Stephen Reid
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Stephen Reid. I'm your Liberal candidate for this byelection.
I was born and raised here in southwestern Manitoba. My family has very deep roots in the community as well. My father was deputy mayor of Brandon for 15 years. My grandfather, Jim was the editor of the Brandon Son and my great grandfather was mayor of Swan River and a prominent educator with a school named after him. I've been an educator who was dedicated over 20 years of leadership and supporting families. I hold a master's degree in educational leadership from Brandon University and a certificate in leadership and management from Harvard Business School.
I served as a teacher, inclusion coach, and instructional coach, helping others develop their own leadership skills and instructional skills. Through my career, I have lived and worked in five different countries learning the power of collaboration and innovation in order to strength communities, and I'm ready to bring that collaboration and leadership to this Riding.
PC Party of Manitoba, Colleen Robbins
I'm Colleen Robbins, the PC candidate for the Spruce Woods by election.
I'm a mother, a wife and a Nana. I was born and raised in Deloraine, Manitoba, and after graduating I moved on to Brandon to become a nurse. Back then, there were no jobs to be found in Manitoba. If you can believe that. So off I went to Vancouver, where I had family there to support me. After 2 years of living in Vancouver, I wanted what I had growing up in a small rural community where my children can be safe and have fun, ride their bike to school. So, I moved back to Souris, being the fact that I thought it was central of many communities.
After a back injury, I went on to be a business owner in Souris. And from there, I went to Saputo who offered me a job. So, my last career quitting just before this by election was the Food service Rep for Saputo.
I volunteered for many, many groups and some of the ones that I'm most proud of are: president of the Chamber of Commerce, being a minor hockey manager for my son's team, being a football manager for my son's football team, a director for Manitoba Crime Stoppers for the West Man area.
And I'm most proud of and I'm still on the board is when our soldiers went to Afghanistan, the founder and myself, as the president decided that we needed to do something for these veterans when they returned from combat. So we set up a non-profit organization to give them dinners out, movies, all sorts of things for their families and the couples.
Once we pulled out of Afghanistan, we thought, what are we going to do with this? We moved on to Ottawa. The founder moved on to Ottawa. So what we did was we created a PTSD for our veterans and frontline workers.
At the end of the Q&A, each of the candidates were asked why they joined this byelection race, and what they could commit to this evening.
Ray Berthelette (NDP Candidate)
I want this job because I'm a compassionate, caring person who wants to look and help the people in the constituency and I believe it's much more important for people to do that as an MLA in Spruce Woods constituency.
What's one thing [I] will commit to? Well, I've already made the commitment. I made the commitment to prioritize the Souris highway to Deleau. I'm going to work very hard on that. And that's the priority of mine and I can commit to.
Stephen Reid (Liberal Party Candidate)
OK, so why am I running for this? Like I said earlier, I have a very strong family history, so I feel that pull for public service one. Number two, I have studied leadership my entire life, whether it be through educational leadership, business leadership or just ... leadership!
I outlined my education in the opening statement, and I have been working with teachers and leaders for multiple years to solve problems and get the best results for people. I would like to translate that into this position because I see this Riding as one that's ... here or there, and unfortunately, it's not going to work that way to the benefit of the people. We need somebody in the middle who is going to listen to both sides and take the actual right approach based on facts, data and science. One thing I commit to is just that – to never speaking without understanding, always listening, and referring to the experts and to the people in the Riding.
Colleen Robbins (PC Candidate)
I will be a strong voice for Spruce Woods. I will listen to each and every person. Whether you voted for me or not, I will be there for you at the table. I will take this to the [Legislature] and hopefully if it's working with other governments, if they will, I will work with us, the PC party and the government of the day.
So also, my commitment I'd like to make today is to educate myself before I speak of something that I totally don't understand, and I apologize for that tonight.
(Colleen Robbins' comments referred to an earlier portion of the debate discussing residential schools and gender issues.)
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