Solid NDP win cements Kinew as 1st First Nations leader in Manitoba history

The NDP sailed to victory Tuesday night with a solid win that cements leader Wab Kinew as Manitoba's first First Nations premier and also nets the party enough seats to form a majority government.

NDP Leader Wab Kinew led his party with a projected win in Fort Rouge, and while results continue to pour in, the New Democrats will come away with at least the 29 seats needed to form a majority government.

"This is a great victory for all of us in Manitoba," Kinew said to thunderous applause at NDP campaign headquarters Tuesday night. "We can do amazing things when we stand together as one province."

He thanked Heather Stefanson for her service as premier.

The PC leader, still in a tight race in Tuxedo, will step down as party leader, she said as she conceded her party's defeat to the NDP.

Stefanson became Manitoba's first woman premier when she took the job after Brian Pallister stepped down in fall 2021.

"Mr. Kinew and I don't always agree on everything, but like me, I know that he loves this province and he loves the people of Manitoba," Stefanson said.

"Wab, I hope that your win tonight inspires a future generation of Indigenous youth to get involved in our democratic process — not just here in Manitoba but right across the country."

Manitoba PC Leader Heather Stefanson announces she is stepping down as leader after the NDP won enough seats Tuesday night to form a majority government. (Prabhjot Singh Lotey/CBC)

After the Kirkfield Park byelection last year, the PCs held 36 seats to the NDP's 18, and the Liberals had three, one seat short of official party status.

In that December byelection, former city councillor Kevin Klein came out on top for the PCs — but NDP opponent Logan Oxenham wrested Kirkfield Park away from Klein, who was a cabinet minister, on Tuesday night, CBC projects.

PC cabinet ministers Audrey Gordon (Southdale), Rochelle Squires (Riel), and James Teitsma (Radisson) also lose their seats, the CBC projects.

Uzoma Azagwara, NDP candidate for Union Station, waits for election results on Tuesday night. (James Turner/CBC)

Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont conceded defeat to NDP candidate Robert Loiselle in St. Boniface.

"Ultimately the people have decided, and sometimes you get caught in a wave, and sometimes it doesn't matter what you do," Lamont said. "I know we changed hearts and minds in this election and I also know this isn't always enough."

Cindy Lamoureux held on to her seat for the Liberals in Tyndall Park, but longtime Liberal MLA for River Heights Jon Gerrard was taken down by the NDP's Bob Moroz, CBC projects. Gerrard was first elected in 1999.

Incumbent Mark Wasyliw won his seat for the NDP in Fort Garry, which was the first projection of the night.

"This feels really great. … all the indications we were getting from people were positive," Wasyliw said. "I think we need to heal Manitoba … think health care has become a symbol of that."

St. Vital voters handed the NDP's Jamie Moses a win, and the NDP's Diljeet Brar won the Burrows riding, the CBC projects. Nello Altomare has kept Transcona for the NDP, CBC projects.

Tom Lindsey (Flin Flon) and Eric Redhead (Thompson) in the north, and Adrien Sala (St. James), Lisa Naylor (Wolseley), Nahanni Fontaine (St. Johns), Uzoma Asagwara (Union Station), Mintu Sandhu (The Maples), Matt Wiebe (Concordia), Bernadette Smith (Point Douglas), Malaya Marcelino (Notre Dame), Jelynn Dela Cruz (Radisson), Jim Maloway (Elmwood), Renee Cable (Southdale) and Mike Moyes (Riel) have also scored victories for the NDP in Winnipeg, CBC News projects.

Meanwhile, CBC projects Obby Khan will take Fort Whyte for the PCs.

Trevor King will take Lakeside and Kelvin Goertzen will hold onto Steinbach for the PCs, while Josh Guenter will win Borderland for the party, CBC News projects.

Doyle Piwniuk also is holding on to his seat for the PCs in Turtle Mountain, and Jodie Byram won the Agassiz riding, the CBC projects. Grant Jackson (Spruce Woods), Carrie Hiebert (Morden-Winkler), Konrad Narth (La Vérendrye), Jeff Bereza (Portage la Prairie), Greg Nesbitt (Riding Mountain), Lauren Stone (Midland), Kathleen Cook (Roblin), Rick Wowchuk (Swan River) and Ron Schuler (Springfield-Ritchot) also won for the Progressive Conservatives, according to CBC projections.

A record 200,790 Manitobans — nearly a quarter of all eligible voters — cast ballots in advance polls, Elections Manitoba said.

In 2019, about 112,814 advance votes were cast — the next-highest number on record. That election saw a 55 per cent turnout.

Cliff Cullen waits just before polls close at a PC event at the former Celebrations Dinner Theatre at Canad Inns Fort Garry on election night. Cullen, a former cabinet minister, announced late last year he wouldn't seek re-election. (Prabhjot Singh Lotey/CBC)

The PCs rose to power in 2016 under then-premier Brian Pallister.

Stefanson won a hotly contested PC leadership campaign against rival Shelly Glover in fall 2021 after Pallister resigned. She announced Tuesday she would step down as party leader, but didn't say when.

In the two weeks ahead of election day, two polls — one by Angus Reid and another by Probe Research — put the NDP ahead with a six- and then 11-point percentage lead, respectively.

The New Democrats emerged victorious after a weeks-long barrage of attack ads from the PCs.

The PCs ratcheted up their ads in the past few weeks in what some political scientists speculated was a sign of desperation in the waning days of the campaign.

Kinew and his team largely stuck to health-care pledges — including a promise to reopen three Winnipeg emergency rooms shuttered during Brian Pallister's time as PC leader. The first to be restored will be Victoria Hospital, followed by Seven Oaks General Hospital and Concordia.

Kinew also pledged to build a new ER in Eriksdale, Man.

It'll take two terms, or up to eight years, for the NDP to fully restore ERs, the party said.

Liberal candidate Robert-Falcon Ouellette speaks with supporters at the Norwood Hotel in Winnipeg on Tuesday evening. Ouellette is running to become the MLA of the Southdale riding in Winnipeg. (Submitted by Richard Pope)

Among other things, Kinew committed to temporarily pausing the provincial gas tax, freezing Manitoba Hydro rates for a year and adding more social and affordable housing.

He criticized the PCs for campaigning on their decision not to search a landfill for the remains of two First Nations women police allege were killed by the same man.

Upon winning Tuesday, Kinew called the PC campaign one with a "divisive message." He thanked voters for showing the rest of the world that the "people of Manitoba are good people."

"I want to express our tremendous gratitude for this awesome responsibility that you have bestowed upon us," he said. "I want to say thank you."