Spring is in the air! And oh boy, a fair is in the air at the Keystone Centre. My first Royal Manitoba Winter Fair experience was in 1984. After just moving to Brandon from Toronto. I was overwhelmed with the sights, sounds and smells. Especially the smells. The Winter Fair works your olfactory senses as much as your ocular muscles. From the warm sweetness of the food carts — mmm, mini-donuts — to the earthy farmyard aroma in the stables, the Winter Fair is one very large, very entertaining spectacle. Day 1 of the 109th Royal Manitoba Winter Fair kicked off with very strong attendance. I’ve never seen so many people at the Sunrise Breakfast (which leads off my photo story below). “The first day of the fair was great,” Provincial Exhibition GM Ron Kristjansson, said in one of the daily releases from what is a very efficient communications crew. “The weather was fantastic and we were thrilled with the turnout for the start of fair week.” I took some pictures of the unlikely duo of Brandon West PC Party MLA Reg Helwer and Brandon East NDP MLA Drew Caldwell chatting and greeting visitors at the door. The duo are in the middle of a gruelling provincial election. Oh, and Caldwell is the guy wearing the black hat (no comment). And what would a fair be without the venerable Doodles the Clown, who I caught in action at the breakfast. Onstage were the very bouncy Team T&J. I walked through the barns and Petting Zoo, before returning later to catch the opening night ceremonies. Mayor Rick Chrest and his wife Karen Chrest were some of the dignitaries who entered Westman Place in a horse-drawn carriage. A Guard of Honour, comprised of soldiers, sailors and aviators from CFB Shilo, with representatives from the Brandon Cadet Corps, were on parade. Special guests from the Winnipeg Infantry Tactical Group rappelled from the ceiling to present Kathy Cleaver, president of the Provincial Ex with the CFB Shilo flag along with the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba flag. All very cool and all very well organized. One of Brandon’s most talented pop/rock singer/songwriters, Mariah Phillips, of the band Misty Street sang the national anthems pitch perfect. Then came the evening’s program in a fairly full arena. I chose to photograph the horse jumping — a rather difficult sport to image when indoors. For photo buffs, when I was first shooting the fair in 1984, I was using Nikon gear with a limited selection of slow, prime manual focus lenses and Ilford HP5 400 speed film, which I would push-process in the darkroom to 1,600 or 3,200. The lighting in the Keystone Arena back then was brutal — low intensity and severe drop-off in the corners of the rink. The results weren’t great. This week, I was using my very advanced Sony RX10ii cameras, which have an attached auto-focus lens that optically zooms from a 35 mm equivalent of 24mm - 200mm, with digital zoom then seamlessly taking over to around 400 mm — all at a fairly fast f2.8 aperture. While these cameras are described as “prosumer,” I’m getting a real kick out how wonderfully they work. And at a fraction of the weight and cost of the traditional professional Nikon or Canon gear. My cameras can easily be set to the 35mm equivalent 3,200 speed or higher without any noticeable digital noise. And the arena is so much cleaner and brighter than it was 30 years ago. Anyhow, here are some of my images from earlier this week. I hope you enjoy them.

PART 1 – 20 Questions with Rick Chrest Mayor of Brandon BDNMB.CA – Will a casino ever be considered by the City of Province? MAYOR – Not totally our choice or call the casino’s are licensed by the Province of Manitoba.  A while ago they did a market study of Western Manitoba and they said it only could support one casino and that is the current facts. BDNMB.CA – Is making the Sportsplex and or Rec Centre a private venture? MAYOR – Those types of places need public participation in terms of funding…. It is very difficult to make those private facilities.  The golf course is a different situation …. Council wants to keep the green space and protecting of it.  We hope the Rec. Centre can sustain itself as a public recreation facility.  We are trying to find the best fit for it. BDNMB.CA – Long term viability of the Keystone Centre? MAYOR – Due to the size of thefacility it will require assistance from all three levels of gov’t.  It will need assistance on the capital side things wear out and get old.  Operations it can almost cover the costs. BDNMB.CA – Neil Thomson has released the Keystone Centre is showing a positive cash flow. MAYOR – Even if the building made $200,000 dollars it would be a drop in the bucket for a facility of that size. BDNMB.CA – Can you speak about South end development? MAYOR – Their is an application for urban expansion this is known to the public and it is a co operative effort between Cornwallis and ourselves and their will be costs such as roads and sewer etc. BDNMB.CA – Are you originally from Brandon? MAYOR – Born in 1959 and lived here my life and my father lived here… it has been an interesting career. BDNMB.CA – Role models? MAYOR – Growing up The Fonz – Sam Malone – Hawkeye (Mash)and of course my parents. Rick Borotsik of course had some input to running for this job. BDNMB.CA – Can you name a Brandon celebrity? MAYOR – Yes of course plus people like Doug Murray – Bob Mazer – Gord Peters and Kelly McCrimmon is well known throughout the world.  If people have heard of Brandon they will have heard the name the Brandon Wheat Kings with our NHL stars etc. BDNMB.CA – What is your guilty pleasure? MAYOR – That is easy for sure wings or pizza I am not really a guy that likes chocolate BDNMB.CA – Favorite restaurant? MAYOR – I think Brandon is known for Pizza … we must be world famous. BDNMB.CA – Cruz or Trump? MAYOR – You know out of the 5 candidates left I really couldn’t be too interested in any of them.

BRANDON MB, March 29, 2015 (Courtesy Westman Communications Group): – Westman Communications Group has just been selected as one of Canada’s Top Small and Medium Employers for 2016. The national award recognizes small and medium enterprises (fewer than 500 employees) that offer the country’s best workplaces and forward-thinking human resources policies. Westman was selected as a Top Employer based on a list of criteria, including the physical workplace environment, atmosphere, benefits, vacation, community involvement, and training and skills development. “We are very proud to be recognized as one of Canada’s top small and medium business employers,” stated Dave Baxter, President and Chief Executive Officer of Westman Communications Group. “This national award reflects our commitment to our corporate values of Community, Teamwork, Integrity, Innovation, and Customer Experience.”  This competition is organized by the editorial team at Canada’s Top 100 Employers. Winners are announced in a special magazine published nationally by The Globe & Mail.  The following link provides further information on Westman and the other companies that were chosen as winners for 2016. http://content.eluta.ca/top-employer-westman-communications-group

Another day, another party leader standing at a port-a-podium in front of a majestic building on a tree-lined campus in Brandon. Yesterday it was PC Party boss Brian Pallister at Brandon University. Today it was NDP leader Greg Selinger at Assiniboine Community College’s North Hill campus. Now I’ve known Selinger since the ’90s, when I was working for the Winnipeg Sun out of its city hall bureau and he was a left-leaning activist city councillor for St. Boniface. We also ran into each other later on when I was working at the Legislature for the Tories. And after my return to journalism, we have developed what I believe is a mutual respect for each other. That despite our political DNA being at odds. Despite him being the most unpopular premier in Canada, according to an Angus Reid Institute poll, and his party struggling to hold on to power after almost 17 years, I really kinda like the guy. For a policy wonk who faced an embarrassing cabinet revolt last year, he’s always friendly and easy to talk to. However, I’ve never been behind the closed caucus/cabinet doors when his temper flares. So there he is. On a warm spring morning, flanked by a couple of local NDP candidates and Brandon City Coun. Lonnie Patterson (South Centre). Now city councilor’s outright endorsing candidates in the provincial election to me is in bad taste, but that’s a column for another day. The NDP press release in my hand stated that the party is “committing to invest in two new soccer pitches at Assiniboine Community College.” It will also also partner with the city to build additional new fields based on the results of the ongoing municipal feasibility study. All great and good and certainly projects that are desperately needed as the Optimist Park pitches have been flooded out beyond repair and the city’s growing soccer community is forced to play wherever it can find a piece of semi-sodded flat ground. After reading his statement, Selinger went off-script. “There is a difference in this election,” Selinger said. “We are offering policy choices at a time when you need to have a clear focus on what needs to be done.” Regarding education, Selinger accused the PC Party of not committing to a new school in Brandon, or core funding for universities, or to keep tuition fees at the rate of inflation. The Tories have repeatedly stated that they can’t make any full funding promises on projects until they get a good look at the NDP’s financials. Pallister stated as much yesterday at BU: “We have to get our province’s fiscal situation under control. The NDP has lost control of its spending,” Pallister said. “The debt hole that we’re going to inherit is enormous. The question is how deep is it? We won’t know that until we get into government because the NDP is the most secretive government in Canada. It hides information It blacks out reports. “It makes it hard to predict how bad the situation really is.” So I put that question to Selinger. “It’s an excuse James, as you know, you’ve been around for a while,” Selinger said, much to my amusement. “Every year, the auditor general puts out a statement of the finances of the Province of Manitoba. We put out a very robust fiscal outlook just before the election that should show where we’re going in terms of managing deficits and growing the economy.” Selinger then stated that the province still hasn’t fully recovered from the 2007/08 recession, though Manitoba has fared better than others. Selinger stated that economic growth is key both in Manitoba and Canada “in order to sustain the services that Manitobans expect in health care and education.” So the validity of all the promises the NDP is making will be tied to economic growth? Selinger said his infrastructure projects and education policies create jobs and trained workers to help stimulate the economy. “Everything depends on growing the economy, but you have to focus on growing the economy to have the economy grow. You can’t just assume it’s going to do better. It actually will do worse, unless you’re focussed on it.” OK. So let’s focus on some numbers for a minute. The province’s third-quarter financial update for 2015 shows Manitoba's summary deficit stands at $773 million. That’s up from $351 million that was forecasted. The province's economic growth has slowed to 2% from 2.5%. And tax revenue has declined by $148 million. And we are one of the most heavily taxed provinces in Canada. Then there’s that greased pig of a promise to balance the books. Years ago — was it the last election? — the NDP promised to balance the books by by 2014/15. But that date has slipped back three times. The new target is now 2020. That’s why the Tories say they can’t make any grandiose promises until they get a real close look at the NDP’s fiscal fiasco. That’s why Selinger gets a little testy when asked about it. Yes, Greg, I’ve been around for a long time. That’s why in the last election in 2011 then Tory leader Hugh McFadyen also stated he couldn’t make any formal cash commitments until he had a look at the NDP’s books. And shortly thereafter, under the re-elected NDP, deficits started ballooning and the promise to balance the budget started to drift way.

Brian Pallister returned to his alma mater today with a promise to more than double the current amount of money available for post-secondary students. Standing in front of historic Clark Hall at Brandon University, the Progressive Conservative leader said barriers that students face have grown under the NDP government, largely through extra taxation that prevent families from saving money for their children’s education. “These schools are where we unlock the potential with our young people … to find all the things they can do for others in their lives and so they can support themselves,” he said while surrounded by Tory candidates from Brandon and Westman. “We have to make it more likely that young people from all over our province, from every region, are able to reach out and find their potential.” The PC Party pledges it will increase funding for scholarships and bursaries and partner with private-sector donors to more than double the current amount of money available for students. Pallister said in a release a new Progressive Conservative government will raise total funding available to over $20 million by increasing the Manitoba Scholarship and Bursary Initiative fund to $6.75 million, with a one-third matching component from government to allow for more private donors. It will also work with post-secondary advisory councils and industry to promote scholarship and bursary programs with strong labour market outcomes and employability potential. In a media scrum, I asked Pallister why, out of the myriad of potential funding schemes, the Tories came up with this plan. “Great question,” Pallister said (of course it was). “We met with each of our post-secondary institutions in the province … and the suggestion is there is money (in the private sector) waiting to be donated to assist young people in getting to a post-secondary institution. There has been a matching program, but it hasn’t increased under the NDP in 17 years.” Now I’m not covering all of the announcements being made by the three main parties. But I do take notice when a party leader comes to Brandon. However, I have to know who’s in town and what they’re up to. When this website started around the same time the writ was dropped, I reached out to the three main parties — along with dozens of other companies, groups, and organizations — to be added to their media mailing lists. The Tories and Liberals did so immediately. Despite repeated requests to the party’s HQ — and a direct appeal to Brandon East NDP MLA Drew Caldwell — I am still not receiving any Dipper diatribes. So in an attempt to be fair and balanced, I will reprint a post-secondary funding announcement from March 21 that I sourced from their website that mentions the Scholarship and Bursary Initiative. The NDP says it will will address the scholarship issue by doubling the $4.5-million Manitoba Scholarship and Bursary Initiative to $9 million. Since universities can match this fund with private donations, doubling the fund can leverage up to $18 million for students. Now as I’ve said before, election promises sometimes aren’t really worth the paper they’re printed on. And each party will find different ways to make it sound as if they are the champions of whatever sector is being addressed in the announcement du jour. So, one conclusion I can draw from all this, is the NDP is looking to address an issue the Tories claim they haven’t touched while they’ve been in office since 1999. And both promises are kinda close on the surface. But again, it really comes down to who are you going to believe will deliver. It’s all about trust, people. After the media event today, I walked and talked a bit with Pallister on the way back to his campaign SUV (no more motorcoaches these days for the leaders’ tours). He said when he attended BU, he relied on financial aid to get him through. It all comes down to who you can trust to deliver.