Donation sparks debate as campaign nears end

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This article was published 22/10/2018 (2024 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mayoral candidates Paul Neustaedter, John Fehr and Earl Funk have all welcomed news HyLife is willing to commit $5 million to a community events centre, though the latter two candidates were less enthused that the company’s announcement last Friday came with words of support for Neustaedter’s vision for the facility.

“It was extremely humbling that they would say they support the vision and my leadership,” said Neustaedter.

He said the company’s Friday announcement was a surprise to him, but he was aware this was something the company was interested in doing for the community at some point.

Though both Fehr and Funk wondered about the timing of announcement, Neustaedter didn’t see it as an issue.

“I think any company that wants to support our community, they have to decide when they want to throw their support in and how they want to do it. That’s their prerogative,” Neustaedter said.

Timing was indeed a factor, HyLife acknowledged.

The Carillon had asked why such a major announcement was not timed so that coverage could be included in its last print edition prior to the election.

HyLife’s marketing and events manager Kevin Geisheimer, who also works for the Paul Neustaedter campaign, explained that HyLife had originally intended to make the announcement after the election, but that changed in the middle of last week when the company decided it should demonstrate to the public, prior to the election, that private investors were interested in backing a community events centre plan.

Still, Fehr noted the current council has known that HyLife was committed to providing this funding to a centre based on meetings held over a year ago in November 2017.

He remained confident that HyLife’s donation would still be available if someone other than Neustaedter was elected.

“I’m a community minded guy,” Fehr said, “I really believe this money is there for the community. This money is not there for Paul Neustaedter. This is there for the community.”

At Friday’s announcement, HyLife chairman Don Janzen said the company supported Neustaedter’s vision. He didn’t rule out working with another candidate but suggested in his comments that others had not advanced a plan they would consider at this point.

“I think we’d need to understand what the other peoples’ vision is. It’s hard to comment on it when you don’t know it,” Janzen told The Carillon on Friday.

Fehr said he had been contacted by many people who questioned the announcement’s timing.

“I think most people would say that the timing was very strategic,” Fehr said, adding this investment could have spurred other support even at a later date.

“We will need a lot of people to come forward with a lot of money…so it could have had the same impact if it was announced after the election.”

Funk said he would welcome the announcement too as mayor, but questioned it being announced days before the Oct. 24 vote.

“It kind of seems like a bit of an old boys club…picking up a win for their buddy,” said Funk.

“I don’t want to alienate ourselves, but the whole procedure raises questions.”

Funk, like Fehr, pointed to past meetings with the Southeast Event Centre members, a group chaired by Neustaedter.

Since Friday’s announcement, HyLife has utilized sponsored content on Facebook to highlight its $5 million commitment and its embrace of Neustaedter’s vision.

The Municipal Act limits campaign contributions by individuals to $1,500 and bars corporate donations. Mayoral candidates in Steinbach have a $15,000 spending limit on their campaigns.

A spokesperson for the province’s municipal relations department told The Carillon there are no rules or restrictions on advertising by third parties in a municipal election as long as the advertising is independent of the candidates’ campaigns.

HyLife’s endorsement was not of a person but of an idea, Neustaedter argued.

“If anyone is throwing money behind a campaign that is completely different than people throwing money behind a vision and that is what somebody has done,” he said.

“I’m connected to many people in business and all sorts of people from the government to business community leaders, so I will work all of my connections if I am elected to make sure we have a great project going forward for the city,” he said.