Manitoba premier suggests he won't call byelection until NDP better able to compete in conservative riding
Wab Kinew likens PC demands to hold Spruce Woods byelection sooner to request for political 'freebies'
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said he won't call a byelection in Spruce Woods until his New Democratic Party is better able to compete in the conservative southwestern Manitoba constituency — and suggested PC demands to call the byelection sooner amount to a request for political "freebies."
Spruce Woods has been vacant since March 24, when former Progressive Conservative MLA Grant Jackson resigned his seat to run in the federal election. Kinew said he wants to give his party a better opportunity to be competitive in a constituency it has never won.
"I don't know if everyone in the province knows what I'm like, but there's no freebies with me," Kinew said Friday during a scrum with reporters at Canada Life Centre.
"I want to put a serious effort forward in the Spruce Woods byelection. I'm speaking now as a leader of the Manitoba NDP. I want our team out there canvassing. I want our team out there contesting. I want us in the communities that have never put up an NDP sign before in southwestern Manitoba to talk to our canvassers and to hear our plan."
No party other than the PCs has won Spruce Woods since it was created in 2011. Former MLAs Jackson and Cliff Cullen won more than 60 per cent of the vote in the constituency in each of the four provincial elections held over the past 14 years.
For weeks, Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan has accused Kinew of dragging his feet on the byelection call, noting it's been 102 days since Jackson resigned and a byelection will require another 28 to 35 days.
Kinew called byelections more quickly to fill two Winnipeg seats where the NDP were competitive.
The 2024 Tuxedo byelection, which was won by the NDP's Carla Compton, was held 43 days after former MLA Heather Stefanson resigned, while the 2025 Transcona byelection, which Shannon Corbett won for the NDP, was held within 63 days of the death of NDP MLA Nello Altomare.
Khan said Friday Kinew is playing games, noting how Prime Minister Mark Carney wasted little time in calling a federal byelection in rural Alberta's Battle River-Crowfoot riding, even though the Liberal Party of Canada has very little chance of winning in the extremely conservative riding.
"It's sad to see the premier equating democracy and the right of Manitobans and the people of Spruce Woods constituents — their rights to vote — with freebies," Khan said Friday outside the Manitoba Legislative Building.
"I don't know what he's talking about with freebies. There are no freebies in the legislature. All 57 seats are earned. All 57 seats represent their constituencies. People have a right to vote. The premier is denying those people."
Kinew also claimed Spruce Woods is affected by the forest fires in northern Manitoba, noting some evacuees are living in Brandon-area hotels that are located in the constituency.
In Manitoba, byelections must be held within six months of a constituency becoming vacant. In order to ensure that happens, Kinew can not wait later than the third week of August to beat the September deadline for a byelection.