Former Thompson Chamber of Commerce president Charlotte Larocque is running for the Conservative Party of Canada in the Churchill-Keewatinook Aski riding in the next federal election.
Larocque, who resigned her role with the chamber in mid-April and works as the manager of the University College of the North campus in Thompson, said returning to Northern Manitoba after an extended absence has convinced her that the region is in need of political change.
“Most of my life, I’ve lived up north,” Larocque, who is Métis, told the Thompson Citizen in a May 11 interview. “My parents met in Churchill. I’ve lived in Wabowden, Leaf Rapids, Flin Flon, The Pas, Wanless, Thompson. The north is my home and it always has been. When I got married, I left the north and then when I came back I noticed that nothing had changed. It broke my heart to see the condition of the north when it used to be so prosperous.”
In Larocque’s view, having an MP who is not part of the government is a disadvantage to the riding, which has been held by the NDP for all but two terms since 1979, with the Liberals capturing the seat in 2006 and 1993. Elijah Harper, who won the 1993 election, is the only MP for Churchill (which became Churchill-Keewatinook Aski in 2015) to have been a member of the governing party.
“I guess the way it sums up the best was Einstein once said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Nothing changes if nothing changes. Nothing against [current MP] Niki [Ashton] but because the NDP are not in power or opposition no matter how great she could be she doesn’t get the time at the podium to speak about our issues.”
Larocque remembers former Churchill MP Cecil Smith, who represented the riding from 1974 to 1979, the last time a Progressive Conservative was elected, coming to her family’s home in Leaf Rapids when she was a child and says she leans conservative politically. She says Conservative leader Erin O’Toole’s five-point plan, which seeks to boost mental health funding for provinces, provide incentives to start businesses and increase transparency and accountability in federal politics, among other things, addresses many areas that could benefit the north. Other important issues for the region from Larocque’s perspective include the Port of Churchill and the Hudson Bay Railway, improved internet service, education, economic development and the environment.
“We need to switch it up and we need to work towards the future, get all the spending under control, make the communities a little more self-reliant through education and economic development,” she says.
Although it has been less than two years since the last election, Larocque says work done before the campaign is what makes a campaign a success.
“People need to know who you are and feel comfortable with you enough that if they have an issue that they can come forth and that you can help them resolve it,” she said. “Right now my real goal is to basically build rapport and trust in all the communities, with the people themselves and let them know that Conservative, Liberal, NDP, that’s not the be-all, end-all. It’s what we can do in the long run.”
Though aptitude tests she took when she was younger usually identified three careers for her – lawyer, politician or funeral director – Larocque said she had always shied away from politics in the past.
“But when a couple MPs asked me if I would put my name forward, I got thinking about it,” she said. “So I thought, ‘You know what? Politics has always scared me, face your deepest fear,' and go in knowing that I’m representing people, it’s not about me. The reason I picked federal instead of provincial is because a lot of the issues we’re dealing with and we’re trying to resolve stem from the federal level so we need to fix and work together at the federal level in order for it to come down into the communities and then the individuals themselves.”
Securing victory for the conservatives will likely be tough. Ashton has represented the riding since first being elected in 2008 by a margin of nearly 3,500 votes more than incumbent Liberal MP Tina Keeper, who held the seat for only two years. Twice, Ashton has received over 5,000 votes more than the second-place candidate, including the 2019 election, when she had 6,303 more votes than Liberal candidate Judy Klassen, which was more than Klassen’s total votes. The closest Ashton has come to defeat was in 2015 when Liberal candidate Rebecca Chartrand finished only 912 votes behind the incumbent.
Larocque says she doesn’t view the eventual election campaign as a battle.
“We all have different things to say, different things that we have our eyes set on and there’s no point in fighting,” said Larocque. “We need to work together no matter who wins. We just keep it fair and find out what the people want.”
Her candidate website isn’t live yet but Larocque says people with questions or who want to talk can contact her via her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/charlottelarocquecp.
