She didn’t finish the Thompson provincial byelection campaign by getting the most votes on June 7, but Progressive Conservative candidate Charlotte Larocque says the effort she put in was worth it because it gave her more insight into the region and ideas on how to help it prosper.
“Going out and meeting people and actually hearing the stories, not just hearing them but hearing them firsthand from people, that’s critical,” Larocque said June 8, noting that she now has more contacts in more communities than she did before being nominated to run for the PCs against NDP candidate Eric Redhead, who received more votes on Tuesday by a wide margin. “We need that. We need to work together. We need to make sure that we have each other’s back.”
After a short but busy campaign, Larocque spent the first day post-election making up for things she missed out in the run-up to June 7.
“I hadn’t really slept in the last couple of days so I think I caught up on all of it today,” she told the Thompson Citizen. “I actually ignored my phone most of the day and just chilled.”
Now having wrapped up her second election campaign in less than a year — Larocque also ran for the Conservatives in Churchill-Keewatinook Aski in the September 2021 federal election — she doesn’t rule out giving politics another shot in the future, noting that Manitoba’s next general election is scheduled for October of next year.
“That’s only a matter of what, 18 months away?” said Larocque. “You never know what opportunities may arise.”
Though she won’t serve the region as MLA, that doesn’t mean she can’t contribute.
“We still need to create prosperity and we need to get things done up here. I will continue that no matter what capacity it’s in or what the title may be. It doesn’t matter what the job title is, I can still help the north. I think I’ve been doing it for how long and haven’t had a title of MLA or MP. So I’m not going to stop doing that type of stuff. We’ll just keep plugging along and making small steps forward and keep going.”
Larocque also wished the soon-to-be MLA well.
“I do congratulate Eric,” she said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what he’s going to do.”
