Manitoba premier talks election preparation at NDP convention
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BRANDON – Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew has urged NDP delegates to start preparing for an election almost two years away.
Kinew told his party’s annual convention the NDP has nominated its first candidate for the October 2027 vote — Glen Simard, the incumbent in the Brandon East seat — and is hoping to make inroads into rural areas.
The NDP are riding high in opinion polls that suggest the party has more support than it did when it won the October 2023 election.
The New Democrats have also been raising a lot more money than the Opposition Progressive Conservatives.
The NDP garnered more than $1.8 million in contributions and fundraising in 2024 — roughly triple the Tories’ amount.
Kinew told delegates that trend has continued, with the NDP raising $625,000 in a three-month period around a recent byelection in the Spruce Woods constituency.
Kinew said he wants to ensure work continues toward the October 2027 scheduled date.
“We do have to keep that hunger and that motivation, to do the fundraising, to start our nomination process and to look ahead to the next election,” Kinew told reporters after his speech.
“In that way, we’re not taking anything for granted.”
Christopher Adams, an adjunct professor of political science at the University of Manitoba, said the NDP has not experienced too much trouble in its two years in office.
“I would say that the party is in fairly good shape and there don’t seem to be any major conflicts within the party,” Adams said in an interview.
Delegates at the convention were to debate dozens of resolutions over the weekend, many of which focused on affordability.
They passed one which calls on the province for a sharp increase in the minimum wage, which is currently $16 an hour.
“If you work full-time, you shouldn’t have to live in poverty, and that’s the reality for far too many Manitobans today,” Kevin Rebeck, president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour, told the meeting.
Other resolutions call for more financial aid for post-secondary students and new measures to increase food security and affordability in northern communities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2025.