NDP dominates in Winnipeg New Democrats trounce Tories, take down several cabinet ministers By: Tyler Searle Posted: 1:05 AM CDT Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023 Last Modified: 9:06 AM CDT Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023 Updates

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The New Democratic Party turned the key battleground of Winnipeg orange Tuesday night, paving the way for a huge electoral win.

Months of opinion polls predicting a PC collapse in Manitoba’s capital proved correct. As the final polling results continued to trickle in, it appeared the battered Tories would be left holding only four city-linked seats — down from 15 in the previous election.

Premier Heather Stefanson conceded her party’s defeat and announced her impending resignation as PC party leader shortly before 11 p.m.

The Liberals suffered a similar fate, with Dougald Lamont delivering a tearful fairwell to the party he has led since 2017, after it became clear he would lose his St. Boniface seat to an NDP challenger.

The Liberals entered the 2023 election with three seats, retaining only one when the dust had settled.

NDP premier-designate Wab Kinew delivered an impassioned victory speech Tuesday night, crediting his colleagues for the successful election.

Southdale

The New Democrats’ near-sweep of Winnipeg spelled the end for several Tory cabinet members, including in Southdale, where Renée Cable unseated PC health minister Audrey Gordon.

Cable promised to fight back against health-care cuts imposed by the Tories over the last seven years.

Gordon, who joined the gathering at PC party headquarters at the Canad Inns on Pembina Highway, said she was “disappointed” with the outcome, and took a moment to defend Stefanson.

“As the premier said, Manitobans have spoken, and we respect their decision,” she said, calling Stefanson “an amazing woman.”

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

Gordon served as health minister late in the COVID-19 pandemic and oversaw the lifting of public health restrictions in March 2022.

She was noticeably absent during the four-week election campaign period, while other high-profile Tory candidates were appearing at several announcements per week.

Cable was declared Southdale winner seconds before an NDP majority government was predicted, and the Fort Garry Hotel conference room serving as the party headquarters erupted in deafening cheers.

A jubilant Cable said she is “so excited about what’s to come.”

The first-time MLA will stick to her party’s “health-first” approach and is looking forward to being part of a more gender representative government, she said.

Voters in Southdale have flipped between Tory and NDP representation every two elections since the division was created in 1999. It became a key target for the NDP after turning blue in 2016.

Riel

Also felled Tuesday by the orange wave was PC families minister Rochelle Squires, ousted by NDP candidate Mike Moyes in Riel.

Moyes, a teacher at Glenlawn Collegiate, was declared the winner of the south central city riding just before 10 p.m. The final numbers put him more than 1,800 votes ahead.

Squires was not immediately available for comment.

Meanwhile, cheers rang out in the PC campaign party headquarters when Tory candidates were declared winners in their respective ridings, but there was no reaction when the huge TV screen showed Moyes had toppled Squires.

Moyes, a first-time MLA-elect, lives in Riel and serves on the board of directors of the Greendell Park Community Centre and Bishop Grandin Greenway. His campaign website profile says he “will ensure families and seniors in Riel can get the health care they need, the supports they require, and a life they can afford.”

Squires first captured the seat in 2016, and then again in 2019, when she defeated Moyes by about 1,000 votes.

Squires had served as a cabinet minister since 2016. Prior to entering politics, she was a journalist and political staffer at the federal and provincial levels.

The scene that played out in Riel — Manitoba PC incumbents losing their seat to NDP candidates — continued to be replicated on election night.

Radisson

Political newcomer Jelynn Dela Cruz — described by her party as “the youngest NDP MLA since Ed Schreyer” — took down a Tory cabinet minister to bring Radisson back into the NDP fold.

The 23-year-old Gen Z candidate claimed 4,819 votes in the northeastern Winnipeg electoral division, defeating consumer protection and government services minister James Teitsma (3,893).

Schreyer was 22 when he was first elected in 1958. He later served as Manitoba premier (1969-77) and governor general of Canada (1979-84).

Dela Cruz said she was “over the moon” Tuesday night, adding her goal is to make sure the people she spoke to while campaigning are heard.

“A lot of folks have shared with me their qualms with the health-care system, their qualms with pay, their qualms with the rising cost of living,” Dela Cruz said. “(The NDP) have such potential to rebuild that trust.”

Despite the sombre atmosphere at PC party headquarters, Teitsma was in good spirits and “content” with the results.

“I think the people of Manitoba spoke and the people of Radisson spoke with their votes today, and I accept that result,” he said.

Before Teitsma was elected in 2016, and re-elected in 2019, only one PC MLA had represented Radisson (1977-81). The riding was briefly Liberal in 1988-90. All other elections since 1961 have been won by the NDP.

Seine River

Seine River, which has gone back and forth between PC and NDP representation, changed hands once again as teacher and butcher shop owner Billie Cross became the riding’s latest NDP MLA, defeating PC cabinet minister Janice Morley-Lecomte.

As of 11 p.m., with 11 of 12 polls reporting, Cross had received 4,251 votes. Morley-Lecomte, who had served as minister of mental health and community wellness, had 3,271.

“I’m just so excited to change things for people… (and) I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to serve the people of Seine River.”–Billie Cross

Cross, who is Métis, is an Indigenous education support teacher in the Louis Riel School Division and held canvassing blitzes with students and other educators.

Cross said she is “ecstatic” to take on the new role and, after a short break, hopes to focus on advocating for improving Manitoba’s health-care system.

“I’m just so excited to change things for people… (and) I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to serve the people of Seine River,” she said. “I’m so humbled and honoured that they put that trust in me, and I won’t let them down.”

Morley-Lecomte had been the MLA for Seine River since 2016.

She ran into controversy in the final days before the election, when it was revealed Ken Lee — former Manitoba Tory chief financial officer and rejected leadership candidate who was loudly critical of the provincial government’s public health orders on COVID-19 — had returned to help her campaign. He had previously served as her official agent.

The Tories found most of their support in rural Manitoba, and were only guaranteed to secure victory in the Winnipeg ridings of Tuxedo and Fort Whyte by Free Press deadline, with the former won by Stefanson and the latter by Obby Khan.

Other ridings

PC environment minister Kevin Klein fell to NDP candidate Logan Oxenham in Kirkfield Park, in a rematch of a December 2022 byelection.

New Democrat candidate Tracy Schmidt defeated Tory incumbent Andrew Micklefield in Rossmere.

The ridings of Assiniboia, Lagimodiere and McPhillips — all formerly held by the PCs — were too close to call by Free Press deadline.

Veteran Liberal MLA Jon Gerrard failed to win in River Heights, a legislature seat he’d held since 1999, losing to NDP candidate Mike Moroz.

A total of 180 candidates participated in the 43rd Manitoba general election.

— with files from Free Press staff

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.

Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.