Manitoba’s New Democrats have taken a early lead as results from Tuesday’s provincial election roll in.
The NDP are leading in a number of key battlegrounds where elections are normally won and lost, including suburban Winnipeg constituencies that were held by the Progressive Conservatives before the legislature dissolved.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Union Station candidate Uzoma Asagwara and St. James candidate Adrien Sala emceed the evening at the NDP party headquarters at the Fort Garry Hotel Tuesday.
According to Elections Manitoba’s unofficial results, the Wab Kinew-led NDP is ahead in 32 constituencies, the Tories in 23 and the Liberals in one.
Many races were still close amid early results, and some constituencies still had not reported any results.
A party must win at least 29 of 57 electoral divisions to secure a majority.
More than 200 New Democratic Party supporters and candidates were already gathered in the Crystal Ballroom at the Fort Garry Hotel to watch the results trickle in.
The energy in the crowded room was high with cheers going up every time an NDP candidate’s face flashed across the screen to display an early lead in incumbent seats. Union Station candidate Uzoma Asagwara and St. James candidate Adrien Sala emceed the evening.
The PCs, led by Heather Stefanson, had 35 seats at dissolution of the legislature. The NDP had 18 and the Liberals three. One seat was vacant.
The incumbent Progressive Conservatives were seeking a third consecutive term, after winning majorities under former premier Brian Pallister in 2016 and 2019.
Cheers erupted in an otherwise subdued Progressive Conservative gathering at the former Celebrations Dinner Theatre just over an hour after the polls closed, when candidates in Tory strongholds of Portage la Prairie, Turtle Mountain and Steinbach were declared winners.
Jeff Bereza was on track to win the seat vacated by the PCs’ Ian Wishart, who didn’t seek re-election in Portage, and Doyle Piwniuk, who had the cabinet post of infrastructure and transportation minister was declared the winner in Turtle Mountain. Steinbach incumbent Kelvin Goertzen, who was Tory justice minister when the election was called, easily hung onto his seat for the sixth consecutive election.
Polls were open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., following a four-week campaign which focused largely on issues such as health care, the cost of living crisis, crime and job creation.
Voting day got off to a turbulent start. Severe thunderstorms swept across much of southern Manitoba, knocking out power to some polling stations. Manual balloting was used until electricity was restored at those locations.
Manitoba is using electronic vote-counting machines for the first time. A record 200,790 voters cast advance ballots Sept. 23-30.
Forced to defend their record on health care, the PCs sought to win over voters with proposed tax cuts, anti-crime programs and a pre-election commitment to hire more doctors and nurses.
The Tories promoted their earlier decision not to support a search of a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of at least two Indigenous women, who city police believe were slain by an alleged serial killer.
The NDP said it will support a search of the privately owned Prairie Green Landfill, if elected, although it has not set a specific financial contribution.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Supporters cheer as results come in at the NDP party headquarters at the Fort Garry Hotel on Tuesday.
Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said his party would split the cost with the federal government.
The NDP campaign largely focused on pledges to “fix” the health-care system. Kinew promised to hire more staff and reopen three Winnipeg emergency rooms.
Kinew also vowed not to raise the PST, while pledging to freeze Manitoba Hydro rates for one year and temporarily cut the provincial gas tax.
The Liberals also pledged to recruit and retain doctors and nurses, provide tax relief and cover mental-health services under medicare.
Stefanson became Manitoba’s first woman to serve as premier when she narrowly won a PC party leadership contest in 2021, following Pallister’s resignation. This is her first election as party leader.
An NDP victory would make Kinew Canada’s first First Nations premier. His party is hoping to return to power for the first time since 2016.
The Liberals lost official party status in the 2019 election by failing to win four seats.
A total of 189 candidates were nominated for Manitoba’s 43rd general election, down from 235 in 2019.
— with files from Danielle Da Silva
Twitter: @chriskitching
Chris Kitching
Reporter
As a general assignment reporter, Chris covers a little bit of everything for the Free Press.
