Lathlin wins byelection in The Pas

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This article was published 21/04/2015 (4156 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NDP candidate Amanda Lathlin won The Pas provincial riding Tuesday night in a by-election that saw less than a quarter of eligible voters cast ballots.

Elections Manitoba says only 22.10 per cent of 12,475 registered voters turned out.

With all 56 polls reporting, Lathlin won with 1,557 votes, prevailing over PC candidate Jacob Nasekapow (817 votes) and Liberal contender Inez Vystrcil-Spence (369 votes).

"It’s still surreal," Lathlin said late Tuesday night. "I think tomorrow I’ll have more words to chose to describe my feeling. It’s been a wonderful journey."

Although early results were very close — at one point Nasekapow held a slim lead — Lathlin’s advantage grew as the results came in later in the evening.

Lathlin said her first task as MLA will be to meet with community stakeholders, from educators to local councilors to farmers — in order "to find out what our community priorities are, not mine."

Lathlin, whose father Oscar Lathlin, represented the riding for almost two decades, is a former Opaskwayak Cree Nation councilor and single mother with a background in workforce development and post-secondary education.

Under the Elections Act, Lathlin will be declared elected on April 24, but there is a six-day period during which a recount can be called. If no recount is called by end of day April 30, the election writ is returned May 1. Only then is the candidate official and can sit in the house.

There are currently 36 New Democrats, 19 Progressive Conservatives and one Liberal in the Manitoba legislature.

Asked what it would be like to hold the same seat as her father, Lathlin said: "It’s a huge honour. I was just thinking about my late parents the other day. I felt like I grew up at the legislature. I remember walking up the steps to meet my father for lunch. Next week I’ll be walking up those steps as the MLA for The Pas."

Nasekapow, who was born and raised in Moose Lake, is a former band councilor with Mosakahiken Cree Nation.

Vystrcil-Spence is a former health director for Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) and former policy analyst for the Manitoba Assembly of Chiefs.

In a statement today, Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari said the NDP’s grip on The Pas—it’s been held by the NDP since 1969—appears to weakening.

Bokhari said the Liberals won 13 per cent of the vote in The Pas, an improvement over the 2.8 per cent result in 2011.

“I’m so proud of all the hard-work Inez has done to help us build a better Manitoba and a stronger Manitoba Liberal Party,” Bokhari said.

In March, Lathlin won the NDP nomination by a coin-toss — literally.

Both Lathlin and challenger Florence Duncan received 295 votes in a second ballot, prompting the NDP executive in The Pas to rule on a coin flip to decide the winner.

The loonie came up tails. Lathlin won.

In a tweet late Tuesday, Premier Greg Selinger congratulated Lathlin on her win.

Congratulations to Amanda Lathlin on her historic win – 1st Indigenous woman elected to the Manitoba legislature.#mbpoli

— Greg Selinger (@GregSelinger) April 22, 2015

The Pas has been without a provincial representative since NDP MLA Frank Whitehead resigned last year. Whitehead won the 2011 election with a massive majority of 73 percent (2,995 votes), far exceeding the combined totals of the PC (956) and Liberal (115) candidates. That election had a 30.4 percent turnout.

Oscar Lathlin served the riding from 1990 to the time of his death in 2008.