Political veterans Harpauer, Wotherspoon talk community, ice time and what keeps them in the game

In 1999, Donna Harpauer was a medical lab technologist at Saskatoon’s Royal University Hospital.

She got involved with what was at the time a much-smaller Saskatchewan Party to try and solve a SaskEnergy issue — championing a natural gas pipeline project on a farm. The party, in turn, asked her to run in the Watrous riding. She never expected to defeat NDP incumbent Eric Upshall.

“So when I did win, there were a lot of challenges because my three daughters at the time were 15, 13 and 10, and I was a stay-at-home mom. So there had to be a lot of arrangements and adjustments made. But the girls and I became a team, for sure,” she said.

Donna Harpauer, Sask. Party candidate for Humboldt-Watrous. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)

She has since won the Humboldt-Watrous riding several more times. Over the years, she did her best to take care of her daughters. While it was rough at times, she constantly travelled back and forth to the legislature.

“You know, I won’t ever tell anybody it’s easy. Because of course I didn’t live in the Queen City, so there were times where I packed up those girls and away we went to Regina,” Harpauer said.

She also took her girls to voice lessons and was a skating mom, spending a lot of time at local rinks, getting to know the parents and other children.

“You have your rink moms and your rink parents you get to know. My girls all figure skated, so I was a rink mom,” she explained.

In Regina, on the ice is where the NDP’s Regina Rosemont candidate, Trent Wotherspoon, has also spent a lot of time.

He played both centre and left wing in the Northwest Sports Division and has worked as a coach.

Wotherspoon says the Outdoor Hockey League he coaches now provides free equipment to kids and has removed barriers for those who otherwise wouldn’t have the financial means to play.

“They return (the equipment) at the end of the year, so that’s all done at no cost,” he said. “It removes that barrier for families, for children. And then we run that league at local rinks across the city.”

Trent Wotherspoon, the NDP candidate for Regina Rosemont. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME file photo)

This is Wotherspoon’s fourth campaign after he was recruited by the NDP in 2007. He was working as a teacher and developing a mentorship and support program to help young people — after they were in jail or youth detention — to help them reintegrate back into the community.

“What we found through that program is that the vast majority of young people never returned to custody,” he explained. “Many of them were able to advance through education and into employment — and to lead much healthier lives than they were leading.”

For both candidates, family, strengthening their communities and getting to know their neighbours are at the core of their campaigns. Wotherspoon even takes his young son door-knocking with him sometimes.

“It’s really important for me to make sure he understands what this is all about and that he’s able to share in some of the experiences,” Wotherspoon said.

As for advice they might have for those who might be considering a run in politics? As a mother of three women, Harpauer wants them to know that she has never felt “dismissed” within her party, and that hard work pays off.

“You know, your barriers are in your mind,” she said. “Just go and prove that you’re more than capable, because we are. We’re more than capable.”

Wotherspoon says he takes pride in mentoring younger members of his party and reinforces the need to maintain community relations.

“They’re working so hard at it,” he said. “It’s a really special thing that they’ve stepped up to do. But it’s not without pressure, stress and sacrifice as well.”

For Harpauer, this may be her final time on the campaign trail. Then again, she said the last election would be her last, too.

Wotherspoon says he’ll stay in his role as long as he’s motivated to do so.