When he was asked who he came to Virden to talk to, newly elected Manitoba Liberal Party leader Dougald Lamont replied, “I’ll talk to anyone.”
Lamont admitted that Liberals were not an organized force in western Manitoba.
“We’re rebuilding the constituency from the ground-up,” he said at an interview at the Empire-Advance office.
Making his way around the province, the Winnipeg politician was already familiar with Virden, but more as a stop on the way elsewhere.
His legacy with the Liberal Party has been passed down from father to son.
“My grandfather Bud Lamont was an MLA in the 1930s and a friend of the last Liberal Premier of Manitoba, Doug Campbell.
“My dad was an advisor to Sharon Carstairs, the last federal Liberal Leader of the Opposition.”
Lamont got his feet wet in provincial politics in a run against Greg Selinger for premier in 2003.
He says he has participated behind the scenes, primarily as a volunteer for general elections, by-elections, federal, provincial and even municipal elections.
“I was doing it because it mattered to me. A lot of it was policy and communications but I’ve worked with a campaign a year, every year from 2003 until 2017.”
Lamont worked in advertising in Toronto, in public relations, communications, on policy with government, and he taught government/business relations at the University of Winnipeg.
“I’ve worked in the private sector – I’ve helped small businesses launch, get capital and find investors. I ran my own small business in marketing and communications.”
Lamont was not completely clear on what drives Manitoba’s economy, nor on the part that agriculture plays in the GDP. However, he said the province would grow from more value added businesses, including agri-food.
“We would like Manitoba to have a business development bank.” He cited Alberta's example and North Dakota’s state owned bank.
“Just a bank to help grow local businesses. Not grants. It would be loans...I don’t care if you are PC, NDP, Liberal or Green party - if you walk into that bank and you have a good business plan, and an idea for making your community grow, creating jobs, that’s what it is about.”
He also talked about a mincome program, citing an experiment with minimum annual income that was carried out in Dauphin in the 1970s.
“If you give money to people who spend it all, it tends to go through the economy,” Lamont said.
