News briefs for September 10, 2019

The Progressive Conservative candidate Audrey Gordon has been elected to represent the Winnipeg riding of Southdale at the Manitoba Legislature.

With more than 25 years in the public sector, Gordon brings plenty of experience to the table as she transitions to an elected role.

She holds multiple degrees from the University of Manitoba and was a PC candidate in 2016 in the Fort Rouge riding, running in a hotly-contested race against NDP leader Wab Kinew.

Following her loss in the 2016 election, she was hired by the Pallister government as a special assistant to then-Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen.

Placing second in the riding was the NDP’s Karen Myshkowsky.

NDP candidate Mintu Sandhu will be the new MLA for The Maples.

Around 11 p.m. Sandhu, the general manager of Unicity Taxi, was named the winner with 39.6 per cent of the vote with 25 of 36 polls reporting, ahead of Liberal Deep Brar and Tory candidate Amanjot Sandhu.

After a late vote count slowed by thousands of advance ballots, Sandhu’s campaign officials said they had received enough information about advance ballots to state he had won.

The announcement was made midst exuberant cheers at the bustling Keewatin St. campaign office he shared with candidates Ted Marcelino (Tyndall Park) and Diljeet Brar (Burrows).

“We heard on the doorstep that health care is the number one issue,” Sandhu told the crowd. “And we will take that fight to Brian Pallister.”

There was no incumbent. The seat was formerly held since 2007 by Mohinder Saran, a longtime MLA who was booted from the NDP in 2017 following sexual harassment allegations.

The Maples is one of the most diverse ridings in Manitoba. Over half its residents identified as immigrants in 2018.

Lisa Naylor hung on against another valiant effort by Green Party candidate David Nickarz to hold the Wolseley seat for the NDP.

The Winnipeg School Division trustee and counsellor and health educator at Women’s Health Clinic, who championed breakthough inclusion policy at Winnipeg’s largest school division, ran a strong local campaign. 

“I’m glad the election is over because I’m really ready to get in there and start to work on the issues like health care and education,” Naylor said at her Portage Avenue campaign office. 

She congratulated Nickarz on his strong showing and said the NDP is concerned about similar issues. 

She said “I think the NDP has an incredible climate change platform. There are a lot of environmental activists among the NDP.” 

Nickarz who ran a dogged campaign said that despite not winning the Green Party will still get their message out about climate change action.

“If we don’t change… we’re leaving our children and grandchildren with a world they may not be able to survive in. It’s something I will be hammering home” despite not getting elected. 

Winnipeg’s Southdale riding remains too close to call as of 10 p.m. Tuesday.

The Progressive Conservative candidate, Audrey Gordon, is in the lead with 2,583 votes.

On her heels is the NDP’s Karen Myshkowsky with 2,552 votes.

There have been 32 of 41 polls that have reported so far, with a total of 6,512 votes counted.

New Democrat Mark Wasyliw easily won the new riding of Fort Garry.

This riding race was expected to be a toss-up between Wasyliw and PC Nancy Cooke and while the early results lived up to the billing, the rookie New Democrat prevailed.

“It’s overwhelming, it’s humbling,” Wasyliw said of his victory. “It felt good at the door, where we knew we were turning a lot of long time Liberals and Conservatives … It was an old style campaign.”

Cooke and Wasyliw traded leads as early results came in but he pulled away as the night wore on.

“I was surprised by the size of the win,” Wasyliw said. “It was humbling.”

Liberal Craig Larkins finished third. The Green Party did not have a candidate for this riding.

Wasyliw, 47, knows a thing or two about elections, having successfully been elected as a school trustee at the Winnipeg School Division.

Cooke, 52, hasn’t had as much luck at the ballot. She ran for city council in the 2018 election but came up short.

Larkins, 39, had been in broadcasting for 15 years before being hired as the director of communications for the Manitoba Liberals.

This riding was created as part of the boundary revisions for the 2019 election, and includes part of the former risings of Fort Garry-Riverview, Fort Richmond,Fort Rouge and River Heights.

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Manitoba NDP candidate Adrien Sala will be the new MLA for St. James, the Free Press projected Tuesday night.

Sala took nearly 47 per cent of votes in the riding as of 10:00 p.m. CT, with 27 of 41 polls reporting.

"I think the team ran a great campaign, and people in St. James responded to the message and are wanting to stop these cuts to healthcare and education," said Sala on Tuesday night.

Sala’s new constituents should expect "someone who’s going to go and fight against the cuts that we’ve been seeing," he added before thanking his opponents.

"I think (PC candidate) Michelle Richard, (Liberal) Bernd Hohne and (Green) Jeff Buhse all ran great campaigns," he said.

Progressive Conservative runner-up Michelle Richard of the Progressive Conservatives congratulated Sala.

"We had a tremendous team behind us, and the opportunity to be a part of the PC team was really, really exciting for me," said Richard. "I’m definitely happy that I’ve done it."

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Len Isleifson has won a second term in Brandon East for the Progressive Conservative party.

On Tuesday, Isleifson topped NDP challenger Lonnie Patterson to hold the seat he first won in 2016 — an effort that ended almost 50 years of NDP control.

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Colleen Mayer has become the lone Tory cabinet minister to go down to defeat after NDP candidate Jamie Moses won their rematch.

Mayer, who narrowly won over Moses by 398 votes on the 2016 election, and was the minister of Crown Services in the Pallister government, had the tables turned on her with Moses’ victory – this time with a margin unofficially of more than 700 votes.

“Tonight did not go at all like we anticipated,” she told her crestfallen supporters.

“St. Vital deserves better, but the voters have spoken and I congratulate Mr. Moses on his win.”

"I guess I’m going grocery shopping this weekend.”

Moses now becomes one of the province’s first black MLAs.

“We won because of the message about health care,” Moses said as he arrived at the NDP campaign party. “It resonated with the voters.”

Moses said he didn’t want to claim the title of “giant killer” in knocking off Mayer, adding however the victory felt good.

The residents of St. Boniface have again elected Liberal leader Dougald Lamont to represent them in the Manitoba legislature.

Shortly after polls closed Tuesday, Elections Manitoba’s initial results showed Lamont was slated to defeat New Democrat Laurissa Sims, Progressive Conservative Megan Hoskins and Jaclyn Jeanson of the Green Party of Manitoba. 

Lamont first won the southeast Winnipeg constituency in the August 2018 byelection — nine months after he secured the party’s leadership. (The seat opened up when former New Democrat premier Greg Selinger resigned.) 

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Running as a candidate in an NDP stronghold, Uzoma Asagwara had history on her side.

Now, as the newly minted representative for Union Station, Asagwara has made history, becoming one of the province’s first black MLAs.

“We’re bringing representation to the Manitoba legislature; we’re bringing communities that are here and deserve to have a voice and deserve to see themselves represented in their elected officials,” said the 34-year-old psychiatric nurse and activist.

Asagwara, who spent five years playing basketball with the University of Winnipeg Wesmen, said she never took winning for granted.

“I was raised to be a competitor and there was absolutely no way we were ever going to treat this as a lock.”

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Liberal candidate Cindy Lamoureux unseated NDP incumbent Ted Marcelino, who represented Tyndall Park since 2011. 

With most polls reporting, Lamoureux was more than 1,000 votes ahead of Marcelino, with PC candidate Daljit Kainth finishing a distant third.

“We did our best,” Marcelino, 72, said at the NDP’s northwest Winnipeg campaign office surrounded by friends and food as results were about to roll in.

Lamoureux, the 27-year-old MLA for Burrows, decided to run in Tyndall Park after electoral boundaries were changed.

“The old Tyndall Park was actually split right in half and a large portion of my Burrows constituents moved into it, so I had to make the decision on where to run,” she said at her campaign office after the Free Press declared her elected.

"Ultimately, the reason I ran in Tyndall Park is that’s where I grew up," said Lamoureux. "It’s where I’m most familiar," she said standing next to her dad, Kevin Lamoureux, who was an MLA for years and has been the Winnipeg North MP since 2010.

“We literally door-knocked every single day – we wanted to spend time with people more than the quick five-second elevator pitch,” she said. “We wanted to connect with people, and that’s what we did,” explaining how she won, and giving some of the credit to her father.

"I know I would not be here without my father – he’s taught me the importance of public service and giving back to our community," she said.

"This is all about Cindy’s hard work,” said her dad. “This is Cindy’s win, first and foremost," he said on the eve of launching his federal election campaign.  "I’m not allowed to talk about my election until her election is over," he said.

“That was our agreement," his daughter added.

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The Manitoba Metis Federation will face off against Brian Pallister in court Wednesday and Thursday. 

They’re suing Brian Pallister, former Crown Services Minister Cliff Cullen, the government of Manitoba and its executive council as well as the Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board.

The lawsuit stems from the government’s decision last year to quash a $67.5-million deal between the MMF and Manitoba Hydro. Cullen called it “a bad deal,” and Pallister called it “hush money.”

The two sides disagree about whether the deal was legally binding. 

"The Pallister government delayed this hearing until after the election so Manitobans could not hear the facts before they voted,” said MMF president David Chartrand in a release. “The Manitoba Metis community looks forward to finally having its day in court and the truth coming out."

A 66-year-old man is facing a hefty fine after crossing into an RCMP cruiser’s oncoming lane on the highway. 

An RCMP dashcam shows a car take a wide curve, forcing the officer to drive on to the shoulder to avoid a collision. 

The driver claimed he was “looking at the field,” RCMP said. The incident occurred on Provincial Road 200 near the floodway.

It’s an expensive look — the fine for a careless driving ticket is $672.

RCMP tweeted a video of the Headingley incident.

Just out for a Sunday drive…in the wrong lane? Our officer was forced to hit the shoulder to avoid a collision with this 66yo driver, who claimed he was “looking at the field”. Fined $672 for Driving Carelessly. #noexcuses #rcmpmb pic.twitter.com/siLmmWf0gc

— RCMP Manitoba (@rcmpmb) September 10, 2019

Drivers who use Bishop Grandin Boulevard will need to find another route this weekend, as it will be completely closed between Lakewood Boulevard and Shorehill Drive. 

The closure begins at 6 p.m. Friday and ends at 11 p.m. Sunday.

The Perimeter Highway and Fermor Avenue are recommended as alternate routes. 

The closure is for reconstruction of a railway crossing. 

Winnipeg police are looking for a missing 31-year-old woman. 

Miranda Belle was last seen Saturday, Aug. 17 near Grant Park. 

She’s 5-foot-6 and 100 pounds with medium-length brown hair and brown eyes. 

Police say they’re concerned for her well-being. 

Anyone with information is asked to call the Winnipeg Police Service Missing Persons Unit at 986-6250.

Two people were punched, kicked, and hit with a hammer for a phone and pack of cigarettes, police say. 

The victims, a 25-year-old woman and 26-year-old man, reported being assaulted near Carlton Street and Ellice Avenue just after 10 p.m. Monday. 

The man said he’d been able to hold off one of four attackers, a woman, until a male attacker began swinging the hammer. Both were treated in hospital. 

Police arrested two people nearby but weren’t able to find two other suspects. 

Kara Lisa Harper, 27, has been charged with robbery and possession of a weapon. Michael Okemow, 31, has been charged with assault with a weapon and carrying a concealed weapon. Both were detained. 

Police are asking witnesses to come forward with information about the assault and robbery.

Some Winnipeggers had a hard time figuring out where to vote on election day due to technical issues and last-minute address changes.

One resident in Lagimodiere turned to Twitter for help early Tuesday morning after a search on Elections Manitoba’s website couldn’t find a polling station associated with their address. 

Alison Mitchell, manager of communications and public information at Elections Manitoba, confirmed that the issue was the result of an IT error that affected addresses on one street in the riding. The error had been fixed by about 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday. 

Another resident in the Red River North riding had difficulty finding the polling station at Albright Church in East Saint Paul because the address of the church had recently changed from De Vries Avenue to Maxwell King Drive. 

The address change appears to be the result of a municipal road closure that Elections Manitoba wasn’t aware of. 

“No one alerted us to that fact and if we had known we probably could have contacted the voters,” Mitchell said, adding that the area’s returning office is going to put up signage near the church to direct voters to the correct address.

Aside from these, Mitchell said she wasn’t aware of any other issues at polling stations in the province. 

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will have the Governor General call an election Wednesday morning.

Federal sources say Trudeau will meet with Julie Payette at Rideau Hall at 9 a.m. CT, asking her to dissolve Parliament, just 13 hours after polls close in Manitoba’s provincial vote.

That will kick off a 41-day writ period, with an Oct. 21 election day.

The Liberals are trying to hold onto their Winnipeg seats, after sweeping the city in the 2015 election, against momentum for the Conservatives and NDP in most of the city’s seven federal ridings.

Policing the Winnipeg Jets’ downtown whiteout parties cost $300,000 in overtime.

The Jets played — and lost — only three home games in the playoffs this June.

Last year, police OT was up to $788,000 for nine home games; police said overtime was needed because the whiteout parties were organized last-minute.

The Winnipeg Police Service’s quarterly budget shows that despite the chunk of change, overtime costs have been sliding for the past four years.

Despite the whiteouts, police overtime is about eight per cent under budget for 2019 so far.

A suspicious vehicle turned out to have a stolen licence plate, leading police to arrest a man on parole. 

A police chase started at 2:35 a.m. Monday when patrolling officers spotted the vehicle near Arlington Street and William Avenue. They began following the vehicle and looked up its registration, discovering that the vehicle and plates didn’t match and it wasn’t insured. 

The driver wouldn’t pull over, so the police helicopter took over the chase, watching the vehicle speed through residential areas, blow red lights and swerve around a tire deflation device. 

When the driver stopped, exited and ran on Tyndall Avenue, officers chased him down. 

Kyle Bradley Doerksen, 22, faces six driving-related charges and was sent to the Winnipeg Remand Centre.

Rapper Lil Nas X has cancelled his appearance at the University of Manitoba’s centennial frosh event at Bell MTS Place Saturday.

An Instagram post by UMSU Tuesday stated due to circumstances "entirely out of their control," the rapper has cancelled all of his performances for the week, and the organization is working on finding a replacement headliner.

The post also stated UMSU will be updating ticketholders and students as soon as possible. American rapper Tyga and locals Faouzia and Myazwe are still scheduled to perform.

Lil Nas X’s performance at UBC’s annual back-to-school BBQ later this week was also cancelled. 

A pair of Winnipeg Blue Bombers in quarterback Chris Streveler and defensive end Willie Jefferson have been named CFL stars for Week 13, following a 35-10 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Saturday’s Banjo Bowl.

Streveler earned top honours as the first star after the Bombers pivot completed 71 per cent of his passes (15-for-21) for 186 yards and two touchdowns. He also carried the ball 11 times for 70 yards, including two rushing touchdowns.

Jefferson, who was named the third star behind Streveler and Montreal Alouette defensive lineman John Bowman, also had a massive outing. He recorded three tackles, two sacks and added a forced fumble which the Bombers recovered.

Police are asking the public to be on the lookout for a high-risk sex offender.

Curtis Leroy George, 27, is the subject of a Canada-wide arrest warrant, police say. 

He’s described as 5’7" and 117 pounds.

George was originaly charged in 2010 at age 18 for several gropings of female pedestrians and joggers in Winnipeg.

Anyone with information regarding his whereabouts or with information that may assist investigators is asked to call police at 204-984-1888 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-Tips (8477).

A rooming house on William Avenue went up in flames Monday evening. 

When fire/paramedic crews arrived at the home, in the block east of Isabel, at 6:13 p.m. they found heavy fire conditions engulfing the top two floors of the two-and-a-half-storey home. 

It was declared under control about an hour after their arrival. 

Everyone had escaped safely before crews came. One person was assessed by paramedics on scene but didn’t need to go to the hospital. 

The city’s emergency social services team helped 10 people displaced by the fire find somewhere to stay.