Green party names candidate for Kirkfield Park byelection

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This article was published 30/10/2022 (1095 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Green Party of Manitoba has named a candidate in the yet-to-be-announced provincial byelection in Kirkfield Park.

The electoral division, which is bordered by the Assiniboia, Roblin, St. James and Tuxedo divisions, has been without an MLA since Progressive Conservative Scott Fielding resigned his post to work in the private sector in early June.

Provincial law requires the byelection be held by Dec. 13. The Stefanson government has not yet announced when the election will be held — but the PCs could drop the writ at any time.

The environmentalist Green party announced semi-retired information technology professional Dennis Bayomi as its candidate on Oct. 13, before launching its campaign with sign-waving and door knocking on Saturday, (Oct. 29).

The Green party’s announcement comes a day after former Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood councillor Kevin Klein revealed his intention to seek the PC nomination for the vacant seat on Friday.

The Opposition NDP named its candidate, Logan Oxenham, in early September.

“I’ve seen so little action on the climate emergency and so few parties talking about basic income — those two issues are going to be front and centre in my campaign in the next few weeks,” Bayomi said Saturday.

Bayomi said he’s lived in the area for more than 40 years. He also ran for the Greens in the same division in the 2019 provincial election.

The Green Party of Manitoba has never held one of the legislature’s 57 seats since its 1998 formation. In the 2019 provincial election, it fielded 43 candidates, garnering 27,450 votes.

“We understand the Greens have not been a name that people have talked about in provincial elections here, but we’re going to change that,” he said, adding the party plans to field candidates in the 2023 general election.

“We’re out to win, we’re not here just to be a name on the ballot — we’re out to win this one and to get our party for the general election.”

Klein placed third in the recent civic election’s mayoral race behind mayor-elect Scott Gillingham and Glen Murray.

Fielding, who served in various cabinet roles in the Pallister and Stefanson governments, was quoted in Klein’s announcement as supportive of the former businessman’s nomination.

The division, formed by the redistribution of Sturgeon Creek and Assiniboia in 1979, has formally existed since 1981. It was held by the PCs from that year until the 2007 provincial election, when the NDP won, holding it until Fielding’s election for the PCs in 2016.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera