About this project

About & methodology

WSP Votes is an independent, unofficial community voter guide for the 2026 Rural Municipality of West St. Paul general municipal election. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the RM of West St. Paul, its election officials, Elections Manitoba, or any candidate or campaign.

Who created this

WSP Votes is an independent project created by a West St. Paul resident, built and maintained outside of any candidate, campaign, party or municipal office. It is not a news organization and does not editorialize about candidates or issues.

Purpose

Local government decisions — taxes, growth, infrastructure and services — affect residents directly. The goal of this project is to make it easy for West St. Paul residents to see who is running, understand what each candidate says they stand for, and compare candidates answering the exact same questions.

Independent and unofficial status

This site is not operated by, affiliated with, or endorsed by the RM of West St. Paul, the Senior Election Official, Elections Manitoba, any candidate, or any campaign. It is not a political party and does not make endorsements.

How candidates were selected

The candidate list is seeded from the official RM of West St. Paul 2026 election page and reviewed as nominations are confirmed. The official RM candidate list is the authoritative source; if this site's list ever differs from the official record, the official record governs.

https://weststpaul.com/election-2026 ↗

Questionnaire methodology

Every municipal candidate is asked the same set of questions — see The Questions for the full list — covering priorities, taxes and spending, reserves and debt, residential and commercial growth, infrastructure, services and public safety, and the single biggest issue facing their race. Answers are limited to 125 words each, and candidate biographies are limited to 100 words, so that every candidate has the same amount of space to respond.

WSP Votes begins contacting candidates Monday, September 14, 2026. Every candidate registered at that time receives the same questionnaire. Candidates who join the race after outreach begins — but before nominations close — receive the same questionnaire as soon as reasonably practical after appearing on the official candidate list. Participation is voluntary and free; there is no cost to a candidate to take part.

Rolling publication policy

Candidate responses are published on a rolling basis as they are received. All candidates receive the same questionnaire, word limits and presentation. Earlier publication reflects only the date a response was received and does not represent preference or endorsement by WSP Votes.

Response dates are shown as factual metadata only — for example, "Response received September 17, 2026." A date never implies preference, quality or endorsement.

Equal treatment rules

Every candidate within a race receives identical treatment:

• The same card dimensions, photo dimensions, typography, and button treatment
• The same maximum biography space and answer treatment
• Candidates running for the same office receive the same questions, word limits and deadlines
• Candidates listed alphabetically by surname — never by popularity, completeness, incumbency, or response status
• No scores, stars, approval ratings, rankings, endorsements, or "best answer" badges, ever
• No payment accepted from any candidate or campaign for preferential placement

How candidate text is handled

Candidate wording is preserved substantially as submitted. WSP Votes may correct formatting or obvious technical issues, but does not rewrite candidate positions and does not score candidates. When a submission exceeds the stated word limit, the candidate is asked to revise it rather than WSP Votes deciding what to remove.

If a candidate has not yet responded, this is stated neutrally — for example, "Response pending" or "No response received" — without characterizing the candidate's reasons.

Correction process

If you are a candidate and believe your information is inaccurate or outdated, or if you notice an error on this site, please email info@wspvotes.ca. Corrections are logged on the Corrections page.

Funding and hosting disclosure

WSP Votes accepts no paid candidate placement, advertising, or campaign funding. The site is self-funded and hosted independently.

No endorsements, no paid placement

WSP Votes does not endorse candidates and does not accept payment from candidates or campaigns for placement, prominence, or coverage.

Source policy

Factual statements that are not candidate-supplied are drawn from official and public sources — primarily the RM of West St. Paul, the Province of Manitoba, the Red River Planning District, Statistics Canada, and established local journalism. See the full list on the Sources page.