The Manitoba New Democratic Party (NDP) defeated the incumbent Manitoba Progressive Conservative (PC) party in last Tuesday’s provincial election, securing 34 seats against the PCs’ 22, forming a majority government and making NDP leader Wab Kinew the first First Nations premier in Canadian provincial history.
The night also saw the departure of two party leaders, as PC leader Heather Stefanson and Manitoba Liberal party head Dougald Lamont — who lost his seat to NDP challenger Robert Loiselle — both announced their resignations from leadership.
Stefanson retained her seat in a race that saw her defeat NDP candidate Larissa Ashdown by just 263 votes.
By the end of the night, the Liberals had gone from three seats in the legislature to one. Then- leader Lamont told CBC News following his concession speech that the party was “basically wiped out.”
Long-time Liberal MP Jon Gerrard lost his seat in River Heights — one he had held since 1999 — to NDP candidate Mike Moroz. Cindy Lamoureux, the Liberal incumbent for Tyndall Park, held on to her seat.
Kinew asked Liberal voters to consider the NDP at the Sept. 21 leaders’ debate and a campaign event in Lamont’s riding of St. Boniface the week before the election.
The NDP ran a campaign centred on health care, promising to build new emergency rooms, increase surgical capacity and recruit hundreds of new health-care workers as part of what the party calls “the biggest health recruitment campaign in Manitoba’s history.”
The NDP received 45.5 per cent of the popular vote, with the PCs trailing at 42.1 per cent and the Liberals earning 10.6 per cent.
