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

Back in 1999, Donna Harpauer was a medical lab technologist at Royal University Hospital working in Saskatoon.

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.

(Donna Harpauer/Facebook)

“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.

She’s since won the Humboldt- Watrous riding several more times. Over the years, she did her best, taking 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.”
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’s played both centre and left Wwng 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.

(Trent Wotherspoon/Facebook)

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

This is Wotherspoon’s fourth campaign after he was recruited by the NDP in 2007 -while 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 re-integrate 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.”

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

“You know, your barriers are in your mind. 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. 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. But then again, she said the last election would be her last.

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