CARMAN, Man. – Liberal candidate Don Oldcorn believes his biggest challenger isn’t the PC incumbent or the NDP candidate.
It’s the idea that there’s no way a Liberal will be elected in rural Manitoba.
“A Liberal win here is very possible and I just have to make people understand that,” said Oldcorn on a day when he welcomed Liberal leader Jon Gerrard to his town.
“Once I get on a level playing field and people see this as a real race, I’m very confident in my ability to get people to think differently and vote Liberal.”
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The Liberals have only one seat in the provincial legislature, Gerrard’s, and that is a Winnipeg riding.
But they have been as aggressive as the PCs in pitching promises to farmers to win rural support.
Gerrard has promised to cut all education tax off farmland and to remove the provincial sales tax from farm input purchases.
He also, in a talk with high school students here, attacked the NDP’s approach to the agricultural policy framework, saying a Liberal provincial government would sew up the hole in the safety net.
“We’re going to be full partners with the federal government in the farm safety net program, which the province has given lip service to but has not come to the table,” said Gerrard.
Throughout the countryside, Liberal signs stand along the roads, showing that the party intends to fight for rural seats, even if many voters may think it is a lost cause.
“We can do it,” said Oldcorn.
“With hard work and smart work I can do it one voter at a time.”
