CBC.ca Manitoba

Riding Talk

See information, reaction and views of Manitobans about the election in Selkirk Interlake »

Infrequently Asked Questions

Selkirk - Interlake

"I still am a cattle producer, and I still prefer checking cows on the back of a horse."

James Bezan (Conservative)

What is a pressing issue unique to your riding, and what would you do about it?

Bezan is concerned about the difficulties that Interlake farmers are facing.

"The farmers, especially up in the Arborg country, trying to get their crop off -- Fisher Branch and Arborg. It's just a terrible harvest," he said.

Caring for cattle and other livestock has been troubling as excess moisture and flooding in the area has made haying challenging this summer and fall, Bezan said.

"I have been advocating for some disaster assistance under AgriRecovery to help farmers find dollars to buy the feed that they require as well as recover some of lost input costs that have just been washed away off their hay land and crop land," he said.

What do you like least about politics?

"When things get overly partisan and the rhetoric gets overly nasty, I do not enjoy it," Bezan said.

"I believe that Canadians do not want to watch that type of behavior. They want us to be upfront about what our policy positions are. It's OK for us to go out and contrast positions, but empty rhetoric and negative tones are something I don't enjoy, nor do they resonate with voters."

What is your riding's best-kept secret?

"I've got the best riding in all of Canada. We've got great people on top of beautiful resources," he said. "We've got beaches, Lake Winnipeg, Lake Manitoba."

What is the best advice you've ever received?

The incumbent MP says the best advice he's received is to always take on the job with an attitude toward public service

"It keeps me grounded, reminds me that I need to be there for constituents when they're having difficulties and try to resolve those issues to the best of my abilities," he said.

What book could you not finish?

Where Children Run by Interlake author Karen J. Emilson

"It's the story of two boys. It's a real-life story, they grew up in the Interlake here and they were abused by their stepdad," Bezan said.

"I found the book so disturbing and sad that I could not finish it."

What is your usual mode of transportation?

"My car, although I spend a lot of time on the back of a horse," Bezan said.

"I need a car for getting around this riding -- it's 56,000 square kilometers and 72 communities. Already in this election campaign we're up to 10,000 kilometers driving, so it's quite diverse and spread out," he said.

"And horses, because I still am a cattle producer and I still prefer checking cows on the back of a horse."

View James Bezan's Canada Votes Profile »

By Kristy Rydz, a student in the Creative Communications program at Red River College.

"I enjoy meeting people, I enjoy talking to people."

Patricia Cordner (NDP)

What is a pressing issue unique to your riding, and what would you do about it?

Farmers, particularly in the Selkirk-Interlake riding, are struggling with paying high costs for the goods and products the need to stay in business, Cordner said.

"They just can't afford it," she said. "I would provide more assistance to farmers to help cover some of the costs."

What do you like least about politics?

Cordner couldn't think of anything.

"Nothing negative. I like the running. I enjoy meeting people, I enjoy talking to people," she said.

What is your riding's best-kept secret?

"Nothing that I'm aware of. Our local press is very good at covering the issues in the riding," Cordner said.

What is the best advice you've ever received?

To be honest and straightforward, and to speak from the heart, she said: "Then people know who you are and what you can do."

What book could you not finish?

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

"It was very long. I'm a tenacious reader, so it's very seldom that I don't finish a book," Cordner said.

What is your usual mode of transportation?

Cordner walks when she can, and drives a truck when she can't.

"The distances I usually need [to travel], I can't walk. But for short distances I walk. I can only walk short distances because I'm partially handicapped," she said.

By Kristy Rydz, a student in the Creative Communications program at Red River College.

"If people don't know the truth about things, then you don't have freedom in your country and you don't have freedom with your people."

Jane MacDiarmid (Christian Heritage Party)

What is a pressing issue unique to your riding, and what would you do about it?

As a primarily rural riding, MacDiarmid believes that agricultural flooding in the Selkirk-Interlake riding is one of the major issues her constituents are facing.

"We need compassion to help those through this hard time," she said. MacDiarmid feels there should be more resources to help those struggling in the area.

What do you like least about politics?

MacDiarmid says she doesn't like it when people choose to be dishonest.

"People get confused and it makes society unstable because they don't know what to believe," she said.

What is your riding's best-kept secret?

"I don't know. I don't think I can answer that," MacDiarmid said.

What is the best advice you've ever received?

To tell the truth, MacDiarmid said: "If people don't know the truth about things, then you don't have freedom in your country and you don't have freedom with your people."

What book could you not finish?

Enthusiasm Makes the Difference by Norman Vincent Peale.

"I had a hard time getting through it because the print was so small," she said.

What is your usual mode of transportation?

MacDiarmid said she usually travels by car.

"I like to listen to my CDs, to listen to what I want on the radio," she said. "It's a good time to think, pray and it's a good time."

By Kristy Rydz, a student in the Creative Communications program at Red River College.

"Everyone makes mistakes and I obviously made a terrible one and I'm paying the consequences."

Kevin Walsh (Liberal)

What is a pressing issue unique to your riding, and what would you do about it?

"The basic pollution in [Lake Winnipeg] is just overwhelming it right now and it needs to be looked at in a lot more serious manner than the Conservatives are doing," Walsh said.

Remedying the pollution caused by algae, farming and production plants, sewage from the City of Winnipeg and general pollution from south of the border requires more money, according to Walsh.

"They've committed, the last I've looked ... is $18 million over five years. Whereas at the last election, our party committed $120 million over 10 years. So I think we're a lot more serious about it than they would be," he said.

What do you like least about politics?

"I think for the most part, people who get into politics are in it for the right reasons and I don't know what happens, or at what point, but I guess in the quest for power people turn negative and get personal," he said.

He strives to focus on the topics at hand, rather than personal attacks.

"I don't think there's any need for it. Why can't we just discuss the issues? People can have opinions and people can differ in opinions and let's just express them and let the people of Canada decide on the issues," he said.

What is your riding's best-kept secret?

"The natural lakes and trees and forests and campgrounds. It's a spectacular region," he said.

Walsh, who's from Marquette, Man., appreciates the region even more after being away.

"Having lived in the city and living in the city, it's just the quiet. Trees and grass… you can't beat it," he said.

What is the best advice you've ever received?

"The causes that you believe in, really pursue and push and just go after them if you really believe in them. It doesn't matter if it's against the grain, or against popular opinion, just if you believe in something just go for it," he said.

Walsh believes he has taken that advice from his mother to heart with his interest in the native peoples of Canada.

"I love fighting for them and defending them and it's just been a passion of mine," he said.

What book could you not finish?

Bush at War by Bob Woodward

"It was just the behind-the-scenes of Bush," he said. "Maybe it was true, but it just wasn't that interesting," Walsh said.

The 2002 release, which examines U.S. president George W. Bush's response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, just didn't appeal to Walsh.

"It was probably too pro-Bush, as far as I remember," he said with a laugh.

What is your usual mode of transportation?

Walsh says he usually takes public transit as a result of losing his driver's licence when he was charged with driving under the influence in February 2008.

"I'm embarrassed about it. I'm ashamed about it. But, I mean, that's just the way it is and I'm not going to try and sugarcoat it to make myself look better," he said.

"Everyone makes mistakes and I obviously made a terrible one and I'm paying the consequences."

The lack of a driver's licence has made using Winnipeg's transit system a must for the University of Manitoba student.

"It's the most convenient for me. I'm raising a family myself and it's the most cost effective and it's very good for the environment," he explained.

By Kristy Rydz, a student in the Creative Communications program at Red River College.

"People believe that the minute that someone chooses to be a politician, that they must be crooked."

Glenda Whiteman (Green Party)

What is a pressing issue unique to your riding, and what would you do about it?

The environmental condition of Lake Winnipeg concerns Whiteman.

"We still have time to do something about saving it -- it's not too late," she said.

"I think we have to be much more diligent about what goes into our water, first of all, ground water. Water management altogether is quite important because we've done so much damage to our natural wetlands."

What do you like least about politics?

"People believe that the minute that someone chooses to be a politician, that they must be crooked," she said with a laugh.

"But the reality is that I think that most people who step forward and are willing to put themselves out that in the public eye, they do so because they have genuine concern about the future -- no matter what their policies are, no matter what party they represent."

What is your riding's best-kept secret?

"Maybe that we have the mosquito capital of Canada here?" she joked.

Whiteman poits to the oversized mosquito statue in tribute to the title, housed in the town of Komarno, Man., as one of the little-known parts of her riding.

What is the best advice you've ever received?

"It was basically permission to do the things you know you should do. If you know that you have a responsibility to do something, do it," Whiteman said.

"That knowledge that you have, that responsibility, gives you the authority to do it."

What book could you not finish?

The first book by David Suzuki she was ever given.

"Not because I did not find it interesting, it was just the simple fact that I found the problems too overwhelming, and at that point in my life I didn't see myself being able to do anything about it," she said.

"Maybe it's time I should read that book now."

What is your usual mode of transportation?

Right now, Whiteman mainly uses a truck to get around.

"Right now for me there is no alternative. Living out here in the Interlake, I do have to drive a few miles to get to various jobs around here and I have to drive in a vehicle. There's no other way for me to get to work," she said.

"But I'd really much rather be driving a bio-diesel vehicle, so I could be running it on recycled French fry oil or something like that."

View Glenda Whiteman's Canada Votes Profile »

By Kristy Rydz, a student in the Creative Communications program at Red River College.