About Kelvin Goertzen
When were you born?
Between 1966 and 1980 (Generation X)
Tell our readers a bit about your professional life. What do you do for a living? If you're an incumbent candidate, what did you do before you entered politics?
Immediately prior to entering politics I worked for a property management company while completing law school. Previously, I had worked both for several provincial MLA's and Cabinet Ministers.
What's the highest level of education you've attained?
Bachelor's degree
How long have you lived in the constituency? If you don't currently live there, what led you to run there instead of where you live?
I have lived in the Steinbach constituency my entire life except during my University years at the University of Manitoba.
What is the biggest challenge facing your constituency, and how would you address it?
The biggest challenge in the Steinbach Constituency (which includes the community of Mitchell and Blumenort), is the pressure of growth. The fact that our communities are growing is beneficial, but it puts pressures on services. To address these challenge, our government built a new 145 bed personal care home, supported a new southeast event centre now under construction, is expanding the regional hospital (Bethesda) and adding 3 new operating rooms, will be opening a new dialysis unit in a few weeks, is building a new elementary school and expanded other schools in the region. These are just a few of the initiatives.
If elected, what will be your first priority?
As I am running for re-election, it would be to continue the work of supporting service and infrastructure growth in our region. This will include advocating for more addictions and mental health services, more health human resources, and additional support for recreation opportunities.
Who are your role models in politics, and why?
My role models tend to be the people that I have worked with and consistently demonstrated certain specific personal attributes. They are not always famous politicians, but those that simply served to their best ability.
As examples, I admired the quite humility of Peter George Dyck, the former MLA for Pembina; the community generosity of former Steinbach MLA, Jim Penner; the commitment to family of former Premier Gary Filmon, and statesmanship of former Provencher MP Jake Epp. I have often admired the work of politicians not in my political party as well. As examples, the community work ethic of Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux, and the personal kindness of former NDP MLA Kevin Chief.
Tell us something about yourself that voters might find surprising.
Despite having three university degrees, I struggled as a student in high school and never intended to go to post-secondary education. After a year of working after high school at a grocery store (Penner Foods) I went back for high school upgrading to be able to apply for entry into university and once in university found that if I applied myself (as my Mom always told me), I was a really good student. I truly loved learning at University and always remind high school students, your moment doesn't have to define your future.
Other candidates in constituency:
Gord Meneer (New Democratic Party)
Cyndy Friesen (Liberal)
Gabrielle Simard-Nadeau (Green)