She’s running against nearly five decades of voting patterns, but Leslie Beck believes Flin Flon region voters are open to a fresh path in provincial politics.
Beck, a Flin Flon city councillor and long-time resident, announced this week she will carry the riding’s Liberal banner in the 2016 provincial election.
“I feel confident in that people are willing to listen to other ideas and options,” she said. “I believe that there is the opportunity now for people to look at change, that they are recognizing the complacency of where we’ve ended up in the NDP government, and that we aren’t getting our voice into the legislature.”
As MLA, Beck said she would bring a “strong voice” to the legislature and utilize her varied background while stressing the importance of partnerships and planning.
“Strategically you look at your province and [ask], where are its strengths? Where are its weaknesses?” she said. “And how do you find a balance for the monies from industry and how do you use your education dollars and how do you start working more closely with Indigenous populations to get them included into the economy, and making them feel that we actually are listening and that we hear them?”
Beck views seniors’ housing and the option of a municipal base tax as the most pressing needs in Flin Flon (the community, not the riding).
Across the riding, she mentioned infrastructure needs in Lynn Lake and Snow Lake, and the need to build more road networks for reserves and support federal education and training initiatives.
Liberal leader Rana Bokhari has pledged to rebate the PST that municipalities pay, a move Beck said would help Flin Flon rebuild its infrastructure.
Beck said Bokhari would also consider no-strings-attached infrastructure dollars for municipalities and a municipal base tax – something Flin Flon city council has long sought as a means of more evenly distributing property taxes.
“Those are important things for Manitobans,” said Beck.
Beck said she is excited by the Liberals’ pledge to include its northern Manitoba candidates in the development of party policy.
“She’s really open to the North and what the North has to offer,” Beck said of Bokhari.
Beck, who unsuccessfully sought the Flin Flon NDP nomination in 2011, said she’s comfortable with the Liberals as she believes in strong social reforms and responsibilities to communities.
She said she was asked to run for the Progressive Conservatives but is not far enough to the right to align with that party.
In order to run for MLA, Beck must resign the council seat she won in October 2014, though she won’t have to do so until closer to the April 19 election.
She said she has been honest with council about her decision and that they are supportive.
If she does not become MLA, Beck intends to run in the council by-election that will be scheduled after she resigns her seat.
The NDP has held the Flin Flon constituency since 1969.
