On Monday, February 22, Niverville resident John Falk threw his hat in the ring as the Manitoba Liberal candidate for the Morris constituency. A gathering of friends, family, and media were on hand for the announcement at Slice of Life bakery.
“I have given much thought to this opportunity over the last month and am humbled and excited to have the chance to represent the people in the Morris Riding, which includes the Town of Niverville,” says Falk, who has served for the last seven years as a town councillor.
Falk has long been a respected community member and family man. For many years he has served on the Imagine Run board, whose goal is to reduce the stigma of mental health problems. He has also volunteered his time to coach many local sports teams.
With this announcement, Falk has chosen to step down from his role on town council. “We explored whether there was an opportunity to take a leave of absence,” Falk says. “That’s not something that Manitoba Elections allows.”
“I am honoured by the sacrifice of John Falk to give up his council seat to seek election as a Liberal MLA,” says Manitoba Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari. “John is a well respected businessman and will give residents a real choice in the coming election.”
It all started when Falk, who acknowledges that he has never had aspirations to run for provincial politics, received an email near the end of January asking if he would consider having a meeting at the Liberal Party headquarters in Winnipeg.
“I thought it might be a joke,” Falk says. “I just wanted to see if it was real. And obviously it was. Long story short, that one meeting turned into three very, very positive meetings with Rana Bokhari, the leader of the Liberal Party, and just a couple of days ago I made the final decision to jump in and go for it.”
Falk says that many aspects of the Liberal platform strongly resonate with him. “The Liberals believe in business, they believe in fiscal responsibility, but they also have, in my opinion, much more of a social conscience than the PCs do.”
In addition to the platform, Falk was highly impressed by Rana Bokhari.
“There was a real strong accord that I struck with Rana Bokhari,” Falk says. “I love her passion. I love what she stands for. I like the fact that she’s from rural Manitoba. She understands rural Manitoba. She grew up on a chicken farm in Anola. And as a lawyer, she’s obviously very educated… she speaks from her heart, she wears her heart on her sleeve. She will be an excellent premier.”
Falk sees the Liberals as providing a real alternative. “This is one of the fastest growing economies in our province and I want to offer people here a voice. The NDP ignore us and the PCs take us for granted. I will work hard to make sure the people in the Morris constituency are heard, and our region gets the attention it deserves.”
The Manitoba Liberals are polling higher than they have in 20 years, with some polls placing them several points ahead of the unpopular NDP.
Among the Liberals’ policy proposals is a commitment to give the proceeds of last year’s one-percent PST increase directly to the municipalities, in addition to the current levels of funding.
“The municipalities understand best what they need,” Falk says. “It shouldn’t be up to the province to tell them where to spend their money.”
Falk says that the Liberals share Manitobans’ values in many other key areas, including arts and culture funding and providing better treatment for mental illness. They are also interested in exploring a minimum income program.
“I’m going into this to win, knowing full well that it’ll be very much an uphill battle,” Falk says. “But I really believe that I have made the right choice. I’ve got complete peace about it.”
