Harper plans to hold on to his seats
Says he's confident, despite loss of MPs
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/04/2015 (3820 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he’s confident his Conservatives will hold onto three ridings in Winnipeg in which Tory MPs are leaving politics.
Shelly Glover (Saint Boniface), Joy Smith (Kildonan-St.Paul) and Rod Bruinooge (Winnipeg South) have said they will not seek re-election when Canadians go to the polls in the fall.
Harper said he respected the three in their decisions. “It is never easy in this business to get off the ferris wheel, let’s put it that way,” he said Thursday after a speech at FC Woodworks in Transcona to promote small-business tax reductions announced in Tuesday’s budget.
“But there comes a time in people’s lives that for whatever reason, time of life, family reasons, that people want to make those changes.
“We thank them for their service and we have every confidence that the strong riding associations that they have created and the strong policies that we’re running on will return Conservative members in those seats in the next election.”
Glover, the regional minister responsible for Manitoba, said she will be returning to her job as a city police officer. Glover was first elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2011.
Smith said in January she would not seek a fifth term as an MP, preferring to continue her work combating human trafficking through her foundation and advocacy work. Bruinooge, first elected in 2006, said he was not seeking re-election in order to be home with his young family.
The Liberals hope to capture Winnipeg South with candidate Terry Duguid, and Saint Boniface with candidate Dan Vandal. The Liberal candidate in Kildonan-St.Paul is former MLA MaryAnn Mihychuk. City councillor Jeff Browaty is in a fight against former Winnipeg Blue Bombers president Jim Bell for the Conservative nomination.
‘It is never easy in this business to get off the ferris wheel, let’s put it that way. But there comes a time in people’s lives that for whatever reason, time of life, family reasons, that people want to make those changes’
— Prime Minister Stephen Harper, addressing the impending retirement of three Manitoba MPs
Meanwhile, the prime minister took a bit of heat on social media Wednesday night for not donning a Jets jersey at the MTS Centre.
Harper said he didn’t have a white Jets’ jersey in his wardrobe, so staffers stuffed two white Team Canada jerseys into his bag instead.
He said he picked a generic Team Canada jersey over a Paul Henderson-signed replica jersey from the 1972 Summit Series.
“How can you go wrong wearing a Team Canada jersey in any setting?” Harper asked.
bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca
Who’s that behind PM? Not controversial Tory
A controversial Manitoba Progressive Conservative was moved out of a seat behind Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a rally Thursday night.
Braydon Mazurkiewich was one of about 30 people who were seated in an area directly behind where Harper stood at a rally of party faithful. The group served as a backdrop for cameras recording Harper’s speech.
But before the speech began, a man approached Mazurkiewich, and he was moved to the far side of the room.
Mazurkiewich was ousted as the head of the provincial party’s youth wing in 2012 after posting comments about aboriginals on Facebook he later admitted were racist.
He wrote a planned urban reserve for aboriginals in Winnipeg, a former military base, was “built for hardworking men and women of the military, not freeloading Indians.”
Mazurkiewich did not return a message requesting an interview Thursday night, and one of Harper’s media handlers said Mazurkiewich would not do interviews.
More than a dozen protesters demonstrated outside the Victoria Inn Hotel and Convention Centre Thursday.
Members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers carried signs with statements such as “Stop Harper from plundering the Post Office” and “Save the post office.”
“Harper is ruining the country for our grandkids’ future; he won’t stick up for aboriginal women’s rights and he’s against students,” said Frank Wright.
Inside, more than 400 Conservative supporters — including provincial Tory Leader Brian Pallister — rallied for the prime minister. Portage-Lisgar MP Candice Bergen, minister of state for social development, emceed the event and MP Steven Fletcher introduced Harper, who spoke for about 45 minutes about why Canadians will vote Conservative in the next election — mainly because of the economic stability and national security for which his party stands, he said.
— The Canadian Press / staff
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History
Updated on Friday, April 24, 2015 7:53 AM CDT: Replaces photo