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Winnipeg Free Press
24-07-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Brandon realtor to run for NDP in Spruce Woods byelection
Premier Wab Kinew, who has been handing out a lot of green in hopes of turning a 'yellow dog' Westman seat from Tory-blue to NDP-orange, will be in Brandon Thursday to help Ray Berthelette kick off his candidacy in the long-awaited Spruce Woods byelection campaign. 'Yes, it's me,' Berthelette told the Brandon Sun ahead of Thursday's planned announcement. Berthelette, a Brandon realtor, is a former executive assistant to Brandon East MLA Glen Simard. INSTAGRAM Wab Kinew posted on Instagram on July 19 that he visited Green Acres, a Hutterite colony near Wawanesa, Saturday. Under Manitoba law, a byelection must held no later than 180 days after an MLA vacates a seat. Tory Grant Jackson resigned March 24 to run successfully for the federal Conservatives in April's election, which means voters in Spruce Woods must head to the polls by mid-September. Spruce Woods is located in what Progressive Conservative supporters have long considered an area — most western and southern Manitoba rural ridings are included — where the party could run 'a yellow dog' and win. PC party volunteer Colleen Robbins of Souris is running under that banner, along with Liberal candidate Stephen Reid, a Brandon teacher. While the NDP waited to announce its candidate, Kinew has made multiple public appearances to make — and repeat — funding announcements in the rural Manitoba constituency. He visited Green Acres, a Hutterite colony near Wawanesa Saturday and could travel to others in the area during the summer, a spokesperson said. 'The first time a premier has visited,' Kinew posted on social media. 'From fire trucks built with precision tech (some used in Flin Flon fires) to food, conversation, and community rooted in care — I was moved by their innovation, hospitality, and heart. One Manitoba.' Weekday Mornings A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day. Green Acres Colony manager Gilbert Hofer confirmed Wednesday that it was the first time a premier had been there, but stressed that it was not a political visit and there was no campaigning. 'There was no politics,' Hofer said. 'Somebody had mentioned to (Kinew) that we built fire trucks. He wanted to see where they were made, and he'd never been to a colony…. We just toured him around.' INSTAGRAM Kinew's visit to Green Acres Colony is 'The first time a premier has visited' according to his Instagram post. The colony, with roots in defending the Christian faith and traditional values, owns and operates Acres Emergency Vehicles. Hofer declined to talk about his political views or the coming byelection. The colony visit could be unsettling for the PCs, says a former party operative who lives beside the constituency that's been Tory blue for as long as anyone can remember. 'Those are votes that would normally be safe Tory votes, and (Kinew) believes he has a legitimate chance of carrying his party to victory,' said Deveryn Ross, former premier Brian Pallister's deputy chief of staff, who lives in Brandon. 'He's not playing just to finish well, he's playing to win.' The NDP managed to win a byelection last year in Tuxedo, once a Tory stronghold represented by former premiers Gary Filmon and Heather Stefanson. Now the party is targeting Spruce Woods. 'This is a riding that was ignored by the NDP because they thought there was no hope of winning for years and years and years, and this is a riding that was ignored by Tory governments because they felt it was so safe they didn't have to spend money there,' Ross said. 'Suddenly Spruce Woods is getting the attention it always deserved,' he said. 'I think we're going to see more spending announcements and people are paying attention.' Jackson won Spruce Woods for the PCs in 2023 with 61 per cent of the vote after reporting $13,312 in election expenses. NDP candidate Melissa Ghidoni — who was parachuted in and reported spending $168 — managed to get 24 per cent of the vote. In the April 26 PC leadership race, Spruce Woods voters sided with populist candidate Wally Daudrich who wanted to remove 'Progressive' from the party's name, over winner Obby Khan, a Winnipeg MLA with a more centrist approach. Khan and the Opposition PCs have accused Kinew and the NDP government of 'buying votes' ahead of the Spruce Woods byelection. Once the writ of election is dropped, a communications blackout prohibits the government from announcing new funding or programs during the election period. INSTAGRAM Green Acres Colony manager Gilbert Hofer: 'Somebody had mentioned to (Kinew) that we built fire trucks. He wanted to see where they were made, and he'd never been to a colony…. We just toured him around.' Robbins said many of Kinew's funding announcements were made by the previous Tory government. 'People aren't fooled by it,' she said, adding most are aware of the NDP government's delay in calling the byelection. Robbins said she's been campaigning and visiting summer events in Spruce Woods, sometimes alongside Khan. 'People love him once they meet him. He's so friendly and so nice… and he's really good at visiting with people, meeting people and he brings the excitement. Do I think that it's an easy win? Absolutely not. I believe that you have to work hard.' An NDP byelection win would have a 'devastating impact on morale within the (PC) party, on their ability to sell memberships and raise funds because it would look like no riding is safe and that there's no hope for the next general election two years from now,' Ross said. Carol SandersLegislature reporter Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol. Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal Election: Are the NDP losing their grip on these two B.C. ridings?
New Westminster voter Marsha Roberts had a short answer to a question about her biggest concern in the federal election. 'It's about Trump and his ridiculous ideas,' said the administrative assistant, referring to the U.S. president's tariffs and statements about annexing Canada. 'It's really scary. 'And then housing, there's not enough money for people to live on and what everybody else is worried about,' she added. Her answer about who would be best to deal with those issues encapsulates how much this election's trajectory has been upended — even in solidly NDP ridings such as New Westminster-Burnaby-Maillardville. Roberts has voted NDP in the past but is wavering. Standing under grey, drizzly skies on Tuesday, she said: 'I really like Mark Carney,' though she was undecided at the moment. On paper, the riding, which has been held by longtime NDP MP Peter Julian, and Burnaby Central, where NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is running for re-election, look like bedrock NDP-orange territory. Julian has held his seat, known as New Westminster Burnaby before the most recent redistribution, since 2004, when he won it back from its electorate's brief dalliance with a populist candidate. Singh's riding, redrawn from the Burnaby-South riding he won in a 2019 byelection, has NDP roots stretching more than 40 years However, Trump taking office, Justin Trudeau stepping down as prime minister and Carney's Liberal leadership win 'repainted' B.C.'s electoral map, according to Angus Reid Institute pollster Shachi Kurl. The decidedly Conservative blue shade of the electoral landscape at the start of 2025, with the party enjoying 54 per cent of the decided and leaning vote, has shrunk to 39 per cent as of last week, according to Angus Reid's polling. Carney's Liberals, meanwhile, have surged to 47 per cent of the decided and leaning vote in B.C., up from a low of just 14 per cent at the start of the year. '(It's) nothing I have ever seen before,' said Kurl in an email response to Postmedia News questions. 'The speed and scope of it, nothing I even remember reading or studying in modern Canadian history.' And it has been somewhat at the expense of the NDP, which has seen its support fall in the polls to just 11 per cent of the decided or leaning vote in B.C., down from 26 per cent at the start of 2025. Poll aggregators such as say these polls indicate that even previous NDP strongholds such as Burnaby-Central and New Westminster-Burnaby-Maillardville are threatened. Simon Fraser University political scientist Kennedy Stewart, who was a two-term NDP MP in Burnaby-Central's predecessors of Burnaby-South and Burnaby Douglas, said the region has been changing and that ridings are at their most vulnerable to change after boundary changes. 'This kind of perfect storm of a Liberal surge and a riding boundary change is going to be … difficult,' Stewart said. Pollsters and political observers are skeptical of projections such as those from 338Canada because they don't take into account the advantages of being the incumbent MP. Wade Chang, the Liberal candidate for Burnaby-Central, believes 'it's becoming a race between the Liberals and Conservatives,' which in Burnaby means business consultant James Yan. 'One thing keeps coming up: anxiety about what's next,' Chang said. 'People are worried about Donald Trump's return to the White House and what's that to mean for us, for our jobs and global stability.' His Liberal counterpart in New Westminster-Burnaby-Maillardville, political neophyte Jake Sawatzky, said that being on Carney's ticket is helping him overcome his lack of name recognition in a riding where Julian is a household name. 'People are really liking what Mark Carney is doing as prime minister and he seems like a leader that is unifying people,' said Sawatzky. Issues that have come up frequently relate to 'affordability in a broad sense,' he said. 'Housing affordability has become a top issue.' Sawatzky added that while knocking on 1,200 doors, he's talked to 'a lot of lifelong NDP voters' who said they're switching to Liberal in opposition to Conservative candidate Indy Panchi. Panchi was parachuted into the riding at the last minute to replace nominee Lourence Singh, who was dismissed a week before the nomination deadline and has entered the New Westminster-Burnaby-Maillardville race as an Independent. Julian recalled he's been declared the third-place candidate almost every time he's run and won. 'I never take any election for granted,' Julian said. 'I can just tell you I've never had as many small donations, I've never had as many sign locations, I've never had as many volunteers within the first two weeks of any campaign.' Julian also maintains that the message that the NDP is regrouping behind — that 'you need strong NDP MPs to make sure, with the Trump tariffs, that the Liberals' first thoughts are not to the banks' — is resonating with voters on the Tory party didn't respond to Postmedia's requests to talk to its candidates. Stewart likened a lot of the shifting from the NDP to the Liberals in earlier polls as voters browsing 'over in the Liberal store, taking a look as anybody would.' Stewart added there is still power in incumbency, the familiarity that comes from a history of constituency work and helping residents navigate federal bureaucracy, regardless of party. 'There are really deep personal connections that all of these (NDP MPs) have,' Stewart said. With NDP Leader Singh on the road, the party's B.C. campaign chairman, Glen Sanford, spoke to Postmedia about the race in Burnaby-Central. Sanford said he thinks poll aggregator projections are 'very misleading' because 'they aren't based on what's really happening here on the ground.' Sanford contends that the message the NDP is now regrouping around — that 'the best way to stop the Conservatives is to vote for their NDP MP' — is resonating with voters. 'Sometimes it feels like pollsters and pundits, often from Central Canada, are telling British Columbians what to do,' Sanford said. Metrotown neighbourhood retiree Doug Jones is one of those solid NDP supporters who isn't swayed by any thoughts of strategic voting. 'If they don't want a Conservative government, why don't they vote NDP?' Jones asked. One question he does have for politicians, however, is about all the promises they make during campaigns: 'How come they didn't do that before?' depenner@ Jagmeet Singh peppered with questions in Vancouver on how NDP stays relevant It's 'naive' to blast the big institutions that provide rental housing
