Ready to rumble: official candidates named in Manitoba ridings

They cut it close to the deadline, but each of the three major parties has official candidates running in all 14 of Manitoba’s federal ridings.

Last-minute approvals were being granted Monday and Tuesday after candidates scrambled to submit their nomination documents to Elections Canada, including a minimum of 100 signatures from residents of their riding, by the deadline of Monday at 2 p.m.

For example, throughout most of Monday, Dan Mazier, the incumbent Conservative Party of Canada MP in Riding Mountain, was the only approved candidate who would be on the election ballot. The riding is one of two in Manitoba — the other is Churchill-Keewatinook Aski — that require only 50 signatures because of their large geographic size and difficulty getting to constituents.

On Monday evening, Elections Canada announced four more candidates had been officially confirmed for that riding — candidates for the Liberal party, the NDP, the Green party, and the People’s Party of Canada.

Marie-France Kenny, Election Canada’s regional spokesperson, said each nomination form submitted by a candidate has to be checked for mistakes.

“The list of electors will be verified to ensure all listed electors are eligible to vote in the electoral district where the candidate is running,” Kenny said.

“Names will not be counted if their address is outside the electoral district, missing or unreadable. They will also not be counted if the candidate’s name does not appear at the top of all signature pages or if a witness has not signed the page.”

Elections Canada has until Wednesday to confirm all official candidates.

Neither Mazier nor his campaign manager could be reached for comment.

Mazier announced on March 28 he had been confirmed as an official candidate by Elections Canada.

“Thanks to everyone who signed my nomination papers,” he posted on social media. “Because of your support, I was the first candidate to make it on the ballot. Now, back to the campaign trail.”

Winnipeg Centre NDP MP Leah Gazan said she made sure she submitted her nomination form early in the campaign before it got busy.

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“It is part of the process,” Gazan said. “There is a lot that goes on during the election so we got ours done early.”

Churchill-Keewatinook Aski is another riding in which a candidate was approved on Monday. Liberal candidate Rebecca Chartrand, who was nominated by the party on April 1, was approved by Elections Canada.

Despite PPC Leader Maxime Bernier running in a byelection in Portage-Lisgar in 2023, it didn’t have an official candidate until late Monday when Kevin Larson was approved.

Unless there are more late approvals, the PPC will not field candidates in two ridings — Brandon-Souris and Winnipeg West. The Green party won’t have a candidate in four ridings: Brandon-Souris, Churchill-Keewatinook Aski, Kildonan-St. Paul, and Saint Boniface-Saint Vital.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.

Every piece of reporting Kevin 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.