Green growth in Wolseley

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This article was published 25/04/2016 (3631 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“I think Wolseley is going green,” David Nickarz said of the election results in his electoral riding.

With a final count of 2,638 votes for the Green Party to Rob Altemeyer’s 3,022 for the NDP, it is clear that Nickarz was a contender throughout the election.

In fact the count was so close throughout election night that Nickarz wasn’t sure who won until the following morning.

“It surprised me how long it took to add up the votes, we were still doing the votes today,” he said on April 20. “I was sitting in the back during election night waiting for the results to come in because you could see in an hour, hour and a half, the rest of the province was decided. I went to bed at 2 a.m. and there was still an uncounted situation.”

Nickarz said he is happy with the results of his first on-the-ground campaign, as compared to his previous three elections as a paper candidate.

“We went from 20 per cent of the vote to the high 30s and Rob went from 60 per cent to the high 30s, and that’s a big change,” Nickarz said.

“I’m very encouraged. I want to run in 2020 and the work starts now.”

Nickarz attributes his success to over a year of planning and preparation. He began door-knocking in December, 2015 and continued into the new year, during which time he spoke to thousands of constituents.

“We did the work, we got the signs out, we had the database going,” he said. “We did everything you need to do for a campaign and we’ll do it better next time.”

In the meantime, Nickarz will continue his work as the Green Party of Manitoba critic for Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship.

“And as the almost Wolseley candidate,” Nickarz said with a smile, “I’m certainly going to keep an eye on what our incumbent is doing and pushing for stronger action on the east energy pipeline, on conservation issues and poverty.

“Poverty in this riding is quite bad and we need to continue addressing that no matter what political party we have.”

Nickarz said he enjoyed campaigning, although waiting for the results was one of the hardest parts.

“It was a long, drawn-out surprise that was quite emotional and draining,” he said. “The people of Wolseley, I’m really touched that they put so much faith in me… they’re congratulating me on how well I did despite not winning. They also said I ran an honourable campaign with integrity, and I appreciate that.”