Riding Talk
See information, reaction and views of Manitobans about the election in Portage - Lisgar »
Infrequently Asked Questions
Portage - Lisgar
- Mohamed Alli (NDP)
- Candice Hoeppner (Conservative)
- Charlie Howatt (Green Party)
- Ted Klassen (Liberal)
- Len Lodder (Christian Heritage Party)
Mohamed Alli (NDP)
- What is a pressing issue unique to your riding, and what would you do about it?
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Alli said he's still gathering information on issues in the riding, but was able to name a few issues, including the effect of rising gas prices on farmers.
He would deal with the rising gas prices by reducing the cost of gas for farmers.
"The farmers should get a subsidy on their gas for operating," he said.
- What do you like least about politics?
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Alli said he dislikes the way the fighting between members of Parliament gets in the way of getting work done.
"That's what I hate about politics: No compromise," he said.
What is your riding's best-kept secret?
Alli says that he hasn't discovered that yet. He does say that the number of religions practiced in the riding is significant.
"You have Catholics, you have Mennonites, you have Hutterites, you have Protestants, and it's a very dynamic riding when it comes to religious beliefs."
What is the best advice you've ever received?
"When you put your mind to do something, go ahead and do it and get it done," he said.
"Never look back, but get it done, if it's for the right reason. In my life, I always go for what I believe in and don't look back to the past."
- What book could you not finish?
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The Bible.
"There's so much to grasp that, you know, it's a long story that's never-ending," he said.
- What is your usual mode of transportation?
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Alli drives a Dodge Caravan.
"It's convenient for me for what I do, where I go, and for the family," he said.
View Mohamed Alli's Canada Votes Profile »
By Jennifer Clark, a student in the Creative Communications program at Red River College.
Candice Hoeppner (Conservative)
- What is a pressing issue unique to your riding, and what would you do about it?
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The possible introduction of a carbon tax is a pressing issue for Portage-Lisgar, says Hoeppner. A carbon tax would punish many people in her riding, such as farmers, truck drivers, manufacturers, and people with long commutes, whose livelihoods depend on energy consumption, she said.
"There's a lot of people in my riding like that. I really want to stand up for them and make sure that they're not punished for doing a good thing, which is working hard and paying their bills and supporting their families," she said.
- What do you like least about politics?
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Hoeppner likes to see things get done. However, in politics, change doesn't always come quickly, which she can find frustrating.
"I've been an activist, and so I talk with a lot of people who are activists and, you know, they're frustrated that things haven't happened quicker," she said. "And yet, at the same time, the flipside is when they do change, it's really gratifying."
- What is your riding's best-kept secret?
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Portage-Lisgar's best-kept secret "is the amazing talent of the people that live in this riding," Hoeppner said.
The secret may be coming to light with the big wins by Portage la Prairie's Doc Walker at the Canadian Country Music Awards, she said, but generally, the musical and artistic talent in the riding is still unknown to outsiders.
- What is the best advice you've ever received?
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Hoeppner says her parents and a good friend have advised her to "always remember the people that you're serving. I think the best advice has been just remember why you're where you're at, and who put you there."
- What book could you not finish?
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The Second World War, Volume 2: Their Finest Hour by Winston S. Churchill
Hoeppner says she reads a lot, and that she generally tries to finish whatever she reads. She recently began this book, but had to put it down when the election campaign began. She does plan on finishing it when the election is over.
She did have a rule to share when it comes to reading: "If you start reading it, and you've read fifty pages and you don't enjoy it, put it down, unless someone has told you stick with it, you know, [because] it'll get better."
- What is your usual mode of transportation?
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"I drive a Ford Escape, and I need a vehicle that is very dependable on the highways with the weather the way it is," she said.
"[In Manitoba,] you could be driving and it's beautiful in the morning and you're in the middle of a blizzard an hour later."
View Candice Hoeppner's Canada Votes Profile »
By Jennifer Clark, a student in the Creative Communications program at Red River College.
Charlie Howatt (Green Party)
Development of wind power.
"People see that, you know, for lack of a better term, 'green' energy and what can be termed alternative energy, they see that it has potential and it can create jobs," Howatt said. "We know that we have to change the way we use energy in our society. Our wastefulness is starting to catch up with us."
"The mean-spirited attacks, I think," he said. "I’m trying to stay positive. "
Howatt says it's the scenery.
"We have some really off-the-beaten-path spots that are really pretty and they’re not, like, developed for tourism," he said.
"I think another one I -- and this has been mentioned by other people a lot -- is the volunteerism in our riding here."
You’ll have to get back to me on that one.
Metals and How to Weld Them, published by the James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation.
"It got past my skill level," Howatt said.
"Unfortunately it’s my car, and the reason is I live on a farm, far from town," he said. "It’s a Volkswagen station wagon."
View Charlie Howatt's Canada Votes Profile »
By Jennifer Clark, a student in the Creative Communications program at Red River College.
Ted Klassen (Liberal)
- What is a pressing issue UNIQUE to your riding, and what would you do about it?
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Klassen says his riding pays a lot of taxes, but doesn't get much in return. As an MP, he says he would work to make sure Portage-Lisgar gets the money it needs, especially for infrastructure projects.
"The rural municipality of Stanley is, I think, the fastest growing municipality, I think, in Manitoba. [There is a] tremendous need for infrastructure because of the rapid growth," he said.
Drawing on his experience as a town councillor in Altona, Klassen would work with government, business, and the community "to make sure southern Manitoba got its fair share."
- What do you like least about politics?
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"I don't like the underside of it, the attack ads, the viciousness of the debate, because people get so wound up in their politics that they start thinking that other people are evil and that only we are good," he said.
- What is your riding's best-kept secret?
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"The incredible work ethic of the people who --" Klassen started, then cut himself off.
"You know what? I don't know if that's a secret. I think people know that, right, that we, that southern Manitoba is growing so rapidly."
But Klassen said he doesn't think most people are aware of "the generosity of the corporate citizens" in the riding.
- What is the best advice you've ever received?
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When Klassen left his family's farm for university, his father told him to "never forget who you are.
"I think I've always kept my roots," he said. "I think it gave me this whole idea that I was like everybody else, the whole idea that everybody is a good person, and there's good people everywhere."
- What book could you not finish?
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Memoirs: 1939-1993 by Brian Mulroney
"It was a bit self-serving and I thought he took a bit too much credit for all the things that happened in the world," he said.
- What is your usual mode of transportation?
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Klassen drives a Ford Fusion, because he lives in the country and needs a car.
"I bought it because I moved down from a Taurus," he said. "I wanted a little bit of a smaller car and I wanted to shop locally."
View Ted Klassen's Canada Votes Profile »
By Jennifer Clark, a student in the Creative Communications program at Red River College.
Len Lodder (Christian Heritage Party)
Lodder said it was difficult for him to describe a pressing issue unique to his riding, because this is a federal election and he finds that the main election issues involve the whole country.
However, he said the matter of support for farmers is a particular concern in Portage Lisgar.
He's concerned that Liberal leader Stephane Dion's election promise of millions of dollars to farmers will put the whole country into debt.
The Christian Heritage Party has some ideas on how to handle this, he said, as part of the party's larger platform.
"How the farmers are making money or not making money, those are huge issues, but they're tied in with all the other economic difficulties that we have, like high gas prices [and] high taxes."
This is Lodder's first run as a candidate in an election. Although he's been involved with elections before, he says he's previously been discouraged by his dislike for the way politicians fail to listen to each other and try to make each other look bad.
"I'm just an ordinary guy that wants to see our country do well, and somehow politics has become a place to, I don't know, to really try to outdo each other in rhetoric rather than really listening to each other," he said.
"This province is the friendly province, right? I think the best-kept secret for our riding is that we are the core of friendliness," he said.
Referring back to the previous question, Lodder says politics isn't as harsh in his riding compared to how it can be in cities.
"Here I am finding that, you know, as much as we're in competition with each other, we're also trying to deal with each other in a friendly and human way."
"I read a book once that said, 'Do yourself a favour and love your wife.' I've been married for 29 years and that piece of advice has done me a pile of good," he said.
Lodder can't remember the title of the book he couldn't finish, but does know that it was written by Deepak Chopra. He couldn't finish it because Chopra's worldview is so unlike his own, he said.
"I'm surrounded in my room right now with like over a thousand volumes of books and that's the only book that I can remember that I actually took back to Chapters and returned it for money," he said.
Lodder drives a Dodge van, because there is no public transportation in smaller towns. He bought the van when he had four children living at home.
"They've all since moved out and I just like the van, so I haven't gotten rid of it."
By Jennifer Clark, a student in the Creative Communications program at Red River College.
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