NDP newcomer Renée Cable defeats Audrey Gordon in Southdale

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This article was published 03/10/2023 (745 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The NDP gained ground in a key suburban swing riding as Manitoba’s health minister was voted out in Southdale.

On Tuesday night, Renée Cable unseated PC incumbent Audrey Gordon. She was declared the electoral division winner seconds before an NDP majority government was predicted, and the Fort Garry Hotel conference room erupted in deafening cheers.

“I’m so excited about what’s to come,” a jubilant Cable said, taking in the results with her two children close by.

The MLA-elect said she’s sticking to her party’s “health first” priorities and is looking forward to being part of a more gender representative government.

In Southdale, which includes the neighbourhoods of Southdale and Windsor Park, voters have been flipping back and forth between Tory and NDP representation since the riding was created in 1999.

It was first held by the PCs and has consistently switched party representation every two provincial elections. It was a key target area for the NDP this time around, after the constituency turned blue in 2016.

Cable is a first-time MLA with a human resources management background. She is Métis and moved with her family to the Southdale constituency last year.

Cable stated during the campaign her first priority as MLA would be to bring in a universal meals program in schools and implement the NDP’s promised affordability and health-care improvement measures.

Gordon served as health minister during the final months of COVID-19 pandemic public health restrictions and the lifting of those restrictions in March 2022.

Gordon, who joined the PC party headquarters at the Pembina Canad Inn Tuesday night, said she was disappointed with the outcome.

“As the premier said, Manitobans have spoken, and we respect their decision,” she said.

She called Stefanson “an amazing woman.”

“I don’t think that came out in the campaign,” she said.

Gordon became Manitoba’s first Black MLA, when she was first elected in September 2019, and became the province’s first Black cabinet minister.

She took over the health portfolio from Heather Stefanson in 2021, when Stefanson ran for leadership of the PC party and subsequently became premier.

Other election challengers in Southdale were former Liberal MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette and independent candidate Amarjit Singh.

Southdale is home to 17, 748 registered voters. It logged a voter turnout of about 62 per cent in 2019.

With files from Malak Abas

katie.may@winnipegfreepress.com

Katie May
Multimedia producer

Katie May is a multimedia producer for the Free Press.

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