Can Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger hang on to his job?

Embattled Manitoba NDP Premier Greg Selinger may want to commiserate with Gordon Campbell, Ed Stelmach, Kathy Dunderdale and Alison Redford.

Selinger becomes the latest premier in Canada to face an internal caucus revolt.

This one is pretty harsh.

On Monday, five cabinet ministers — finance minister Jennifer Howard, justice minister Andrew Swan, health minister Erin Selby, jobs and the economy minister Theresa Oswald and municipal government minister Stan Struthers — resigned their posts stating that Selinger wasn’t listening to their advice.

"I’ve deep respect for the office of the premier and for the office of cabinet ministers," Oswald said during at a press conference.

"I know that I am unable to effectively continue doing that job when the only way that my voice will be heard is if it is in total agreement with what the leader says."

The five, now ex, cabinet ministers — who have each vowed to stay on as NDP MLAs and run in the next election slated for 2015 — are part of a group of disgruntled caucus members reportedly unhappy with Selinger’s leadership.

The premier’s popularity has taken a beating in recent months. One of the key drivers of that was the government’s decision to raise the provincial sales tax, something Selinger vowed not to do during the 2011 election campaign.

[ Related: Five Manitoba ministers resign ]

For his part, Selinger quickly re-filled those cabinet posts and has vowed to stay on.

But, if history is any indication, it won’t be easy.

In November 2010 — amid single-digit approval ratings and a daily barrage of negative press regarding his government’s introduction of the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) — former B.C. premier Gordon Campbell was forced to resign ahead of an emergency Liberal party caucus meeting where MLAs were reportedly going to ask him to step down.

Stelmach had a similar experience in Alberta after he was poised to introduce a deficit budget.

Former Newfoundland premier Kathy Dunderdale had two MLAs leave her caucus complaining of leadership style and communication skills before she called it quits in January of this year.

And Alison Redford left office after multiple caucus defections over her leadership style and use of government planes and travel expenses.

Unfortunately for Selinger, his situation appears to be a lot worse.

"I think it’s going to be extremely difficult in the short term and long term for Mr. Selinger," Curtis Brown, Vice President of Manitoba-based polling company Probe Research, told Yahoo Canada News.

"To my knowledge, no Canadian government has experienced such a large number of ministers resigning at once before. I think the premier will do his best to move forward by naming new ministers and then carrying on as if it’s business as usual, but these are extraordinary times in Manitoba’s politics."

Brown points to the fact that the NDP executive will meet later this month and could, at that time, schedule a leadership review for the party’s convention in March.

Regardless of what happens there, Brown suggests that things look bleak for Canada’s only remaining NDP government.

"The NDP has been behind the PCs for most of the past year. Our next scheduled survey goes into field at the end of November and I anticipate the NDP’s support will have dropped given the events of the past week," he said.

"The big question is whether the NDP can turn things around in the next 12-18 months and compete with the Tories. If these divides aren’t healed one way or the other, I really don’t see how the NDP would have a chance of winning the next election.

"Even if Mr. Selinger resigns, it still seems like a very long shot at this point."

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