NDP colours Winnipeg orange
Party caucus has five more women sitting as MLAs in legislature
Not only were there five more women elected but the first filipina was elected as well Wellington. This analysis is confined to Winnipeg but the NDP held its northern seats. The only loss might be in Brandon West but that result was so close last I looked that there will in all likelihood be a recount.
Updated at 11:38 PM
By Nick Martin
The city got a whole lot more New Democrat last night.
And the NDP caucus has five more women sitting as MLAs in Winnipeg.
Erin Selby won Southdale and Sharon Blady took Kirkfield Park — a pair of victories in traditionally upscale Tory ridings.
Erna Braun won Rossmere, Jennifer Howard took Fort Rouge and Flor Marcelino became the first woman of Filipino heritage elected as an MLA, in Wellington.
Premier Gary Doer's NDP now holds 25 of Winnipeg's 31 seats as of Tuesday night.
"You can't even imagine how thrilled I am about this. It is so exciting to see women taking their place and taking a role in the government," Labour Minister Nancy Allan said Tuesday night.
"Flor Marcelino is the first woman of colour to be elected in Manitoba and it's just so amazing. Our party has always been progressive about getting more women into government, and I am just ecstatic about the results tonight," Allan said.
Even in River East, former Filmon cabinet minister Bonnie Mitchelson was touch and go all night against strong NDP challenge Kurt Penner, eventually winning by only 49 votes.
Here's what happened across the city Tuesday night.
Southeast
Erin Selby did it.
The former television host went into the Tory suburbs of Southdale, and won.
It was a huge victory for Premier Gary Doer.
The NDP had targeted Southdale, sending Doer into the riding seven times during the campaign to boost the former Breakfast Television co-anchor.
BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
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Tory Jack Reimer was first elected in 1990 in the traditional Conservative suburban seat.
"I think people saw that we needed some things done around here. It was time to bring in new energy and new ideas," Selby said Tuesday night.
The NDP now holds all of southeast Winnipeg, older neighbourhoods, new suburbs.
And those seats are almost all held by strong women — all three, with the exception so far of Selby, in cabinet.
Health Minister Theresa Oswald, Labour Minister Nancy Allan and Water Stewardship Minister Christine Melnick were all re-elected with large margins.
And then there's Finance Minister Greg Selinger in St. Boniface, who took about two-thirds of all the votes.
Southwest
Tory hopes for a resurgence, and Liberal dreams of a breakthrough in the city's southwest, were dashed Tuesday night.
Veteran cabinet heavyweight Tim Sale retired in Fort Rouge, leaving the Liberals hopeful of stealing a seat with young lawyer Paul Hesse. But Jennifer Howard held onto the seat for the NDP.
"I'm having a beer for the first time in days!" she laughed Tuesday night.
Howard said her win came by "Hard work, that's what we know how to do and that's what we did; elections are won locally through lots of hard work."
And, she said, through "Legacy, the good work done by Gary Doer."
Dr. Jon Gerrard had a caucus of two going into this election and always has to look over his shoulder in the River Heights seat the Tories have often won. Gerrard was re-elected comfortably.
Ashley Burner, a Conservative sacrificial lamb in Wolseley four years ago, ran a spirited campaign and, at 25, should be back again.
Kerri Irvin-Ross narrowly won Fort Garry for the NDP four years ago, but her elevation to the high-profile, good-news healthy living minister's job gave her a big boost.
"It's exhilarating, it's amazing," Irvin-Ross said. "It's very different than four years ago, winning by only 87 votes."
Even in Tory strongholds, the NDP's Sunny Dhaliwal ran a surprisingly strong second to Tory Leader Hugh McFadyen in Fort Whyte, Matt Schaubroeck came second in Tuxedo and Mel Willis was runner-up in Charleswood — all ridings in which the New Democrats are normally a distant third. Marilyn Brick took a traditional Tory riding in St. Norbert four years ago and won it for the NDP. The Conservatives thought they could get it back, and the Liberals put up Wendy Bloomfield, chair of the Seine River school board the last 16 years.
No matter — Brick is back easily.
Northwest
Sharon Blady went where no New Democrat had gone before — into the Tory riding of Kirkfield Park, and came out with a seat.
Former Tory leader Stuart Murray quit his seat in Kirkfield Park last August, throwing open an affluent west Winnipeg riding that Premier Gary Doer visited six times during the campaign.
"We were riding on the legacy of this government, and I think that's why we're here," an elated Blady said Tuesday night.
"People wanted the NDP government and are really happy with what we're doing. I was greeted on the doorstep with that kind of refrain, that people are really happy with the current government," she said.
The Tories fielded young lawyer Chris Kozier, a former president of the University of Manitoba Students' Union. The NDP holds all three seats in St. James, and every seat in northwest Winnipeg save for Inkster.
Kevin Lamoureux has been half the Liberal caucus in Inkster, surrounded by NDP ridings — and he'll do it again.
The New Democrats parachuted Romulo Magsino in from Linden Woods — an education professor and former dean of education at the University of Manitoba, and a pillar in the Filipino community.
Lamoureux vowed to give Premier Gary Doer a rough time in the legislature.
"I try to hold the government accountable, and I know I can be a thorn in Gary Doer's side, but I feel that's my job and I take that job very seriously," Lamoureux said Tuesday night.
Wellington was one of the election's strangest races.
Flor Marcelino was the official NDP candidate. Longtime MLA Conrad Santos decided not to seek the nomination after disputes over membership lists, then opted back in as an independent, as did Joe Chan, who'd also tried to run as the NDP candidate.
It wasn't even close — Marcelino strolled to a huge victory and Santos sank out of sight, trying most of the evening to reach triple digits in deep fifth place.
Marcelino, editor of The Philippine Times and a community activist, said voters were "able to discern who the really qualified candidates are — the ones that can offer a high level of service to the people." New Democrat Jim "Landslide" Rondeau took the former Tory bastion of Assiniboia by three votes in 1999, then built up a huge margin in 2003, while gaining cabinet profile.
The Tories put up one-term school trustee and unsuccessful city council candidate Kelly de Groot, while Bernie Bellan ran for the Liberals, primarily to raise all the fuss he could about the Crocus Fund.
Same result — Rondeau romped.
Maples became edgy when New Democrat MLA Cris Aglugub lost his nomination battle to Mohinder Saran. The NDP needn't have worried at all.
Northeast
Northeast Winnipeg remains an NDP stronghold this morning — Premier Gary Doer swept seat after seat after seat.
The lone holdout was still touch and go.
With a dozen polls still to come, Tory Bonnie Mitchelson, one of the last vestiges of the Filmon glory years, had only a 52-vote lead over New Democrat Kurt Penner in River East. The NDP's Harry Schellenberg stepped down because of health reasons in Rossmere, a riding he'd won solidly in 2003. Succeeding him is Erna Braun, outgoing president of the Winnipeg Teachers' Association, who gives the NDP caucus yet another teacher.
"Education is a very universal issue. My experience as a teacher probably gave everybody a sense of what I can do, and what I have done," Braun said.
Radisson has long been a New Democrat stronghold, but it was also the proposed site of the OlyWest hog-processing plant, which Doer originally backed.
MLA Bidhu Jha has not been given a high profile in the Doer government, while Tory Linda West has run federally and provincially several times.
But West did not really threaten Jha last night.
—With files from Bruce Tulloch, Aaron Zeghers, Nisha Tuli, Casey Gibb, and Jennifer Ryan.
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