Transcona byelection set for March 18

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This article was published 18/02/2025 (213 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A provincial byelection for the Transcona constituency will be held March 18.

The seat became vacant after the Jan. 14 death of NDP cabinet minister Nello Altomare.

Premier and party leader Wab Kinew introduced the NDP candidate, Shannon Corbett, at a hastily called news conference in the constituency Tuesday evening. The 53-year-old vice-principal of Transcona Collegiate won the nomination Monday and will be take time off from her job to run, she said in an interview Tuesday.

The Liberal party will field a candidate, said leader Cindy Lamoureux. Two unnamed party members are considering the nomination, Manitoba’s lone Liberal MLA said Tuesday.

The Progressive Conservatives did not say whether they have a candidate lined up. Shawn Nason, the former Winnipeg city councillor for Transcona, has said on social media that he will seek the PC nomination.

It’s the fourth byelection called in Manitoba in the last three years.

In 2022, in Fort Whyte, PC Obby Khan won the seat held by former PC premier Brian Pallister who had resigned. In Thompson, NDP candidate Eric Redhead won the seat that was held by NDP member Danielle Adams, who was killed in a highway collision in December 2021. In 2024, in Tuxedo, the NDP’s Carla Compton won the seat vacated by former PC premier Heather Stefanson.

There are currently 33 New Democrats, 21 Progressive Conservatives, one Liberal and one independent in the Manitoba Legislative Assembly.

Corbett, who is single and has no children, said she was born, raised and lives in Transcona and it’s the first time she’s run for office.

She’s no stranger to politics, though, having supported Altomare when he ran for office.

“We shared common values, we shared common ideas about what Transcona deserves,” said Corbett.

“I’m really grateful for my time with him. It’s meant the world to me and I do consider him a mentor,” said the school administrator who sees the benefit “every single day” of the school nutrition program that Altomare introduced as education minister.

“For me, it’s just really exciting that I can give back to the community,” she said.

Advance voting begins on Saturday, March 8, Elections Manitoba said in a news release Tuesday.

Now that the byelection has been called, a government communications blackout is in place.

The Election Financing Act imposes restrictions on government advertising and publication during an election or a byelection period.

There are exceptions, including when the information relates to the usual operations of a government department and “is in continuation of earlier advertisements or publications concerning an ongoing or recurring program or activity.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca