Bergen recruited to help Tory win Winnipeg riding

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This article was published 25/03/2025 (495 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Candice Bergen, a controversial former MP for a rural Manitoba riding, has been enlisted to help a Tory candidate snag the Winnipeg seat held by retiring Liberal Dan Vandal.

Shola Agboola, who came a distant second to Vandal in the Saint Boniface-Saint Vital riding in the last federal election in 2021, (19,908 to 12,749 votes), announced Bergen’s new role in a social media post on Tuesday.

“You’re invited to the grand opening and fundraiser with Candice Bergen, chair of the Shola Agboola campaign!” stated the message posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

When reached for comment, Agboola, a provincial corrections worker, would only say all media calls have to go through his campaign manager, Wade Myall, and then gave the number for his campaign office. Myall is listed online as being a committee co-ordinator at the House of Commons in the office of the chief whip of the Conservative party.

Bergen could not be reached for comment.

A photo of Bergen, wearing a camouflage “Make America Great Again” hat, drew controversy on social media in January 2021 while she was the MP for Portage-Lisgar.

When asked about it at the time, Bergen issued a statement, pointing to the Jan. 6 violence at the U.S. Capital Building, saying she “strongly condemns the violence incited by outgoing president Trump” and “there is no place for such actions in a peaceful democracy.”

In 2023, Bergen garnered criticism when, serving as co-chair of the Manitoba Tory re-election campaign, in which Heather Stefanson’s government was swept out of power, the party promised to “stand firm” against a search of the landfill for the remains of two women slain by serial killer Jeremy Skibicki.

Bergen said in the wake of the defeat that she played a mostly honorary role in the campaign, and admitted “there was some disagreement around the campaign table about the communications approach for the campaign, specifically around searching the landfill and around Indigenous women.

“Unfortunately, I would say, voices that encouraged sensitivity and compassion were largely ignored.”

Saint Boniface-Saint Vital Liberal candidate Ginette Lavack, the former director of the Centre Culturel Franco-Manitobaine, did not comment directly about Bergen being involved in her competitor’s campaign.

Her office released a statement saying “we should not be surprised that Candice Bergen, who has on multiple occasions echoed the views of Donald Trump, is now openly supporting the candidate for the Conservative party who parrots the president’s slogans word for word.”

NDP candidate Thomas Linner, the former director of the Manitoba Health Coalition, said if it were him, Bergen “would not be my first choice.”

“I don’t think Candice Bergen has demonstrated the loyalty to Canada which Canadians are looking for right now.”

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However, Paul Thomas, professor emeritus of political studies at the University of Manitoba, said despite the past controversies, Bergen can help Agboola’s campaign.

“Yes, she got tagged in a photo with a MAGA hat on which her opponents have taken delight with,” Thomas said. “But she was national interim leader and did a decent job in that role. She has been around for a long time and she is a serious partisan.”

He noted the riding has voted Conservative in the past.

“I don’t think a campaign manager for a riding makes a large difference on election day to voters, but she may be able to draw in more political staff, which can help.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason was a general assignment reporter at the Free Press.