Former MP and mayoral candidate seeks Manitoba Liberal Party nomination

Robert-Falcon Ouellette is making another run for elected office — this time at the provincial level.

The former Liberal MP and two-time Winnipeg mayoral candidate said Monday he's seeking the provincial Liberal nomination for Southdale, a southeast Winnipeg constituency.

Ouellette served one term as the Liberal MP for Winnipeg Centre, holding the seat from 2016 until he was defeated by the NDP's Leah Gazan in 2019.

He also finished third in the 2014 Winnipeg mayoral race, winning 16 per cent of the popular vote, and fifth in 2022, when eight per cent of voters supported him.

"Politics is certainly a fun bug and I can't let my friends be on their own," Ouellette said in an interview, referring to the Manitoba Liberal Party and its leader, Dougald Lamont.

Should Ouellette secure the so-far-uncontested Southdale nomination, he would compete in the Oct. 3 election against Progressive Conservative incumbent Audrey Gordon — who is Manitoba's health minister — and NDP candidate Renee Cable, who has been campaigning since she won the party nomination in 2022.

"In politics you don't always go where it's easy. If it's easy, it doesn't make good politics," said Ouellette, who lives outside the constituency.

PC spokesperson Cameron Eason said Gordon is proud of her record in Southdale, where she advocated for Falcons football field upgrades, the new Collège Béliveau track and upgrades to the Bonivital Pool.

NDP spokesperson Rebecca Widdicome noted Cable actually lives in Southdale and said she's the only candidate who can defeat Gordon "and fix health care."

Southdale has been a PC seat since 2016. Prior to that, former NDP MLA Erin Selby held the seat for nine years.

Ouellette said he's happy to see some of the issues he highlighted in his 2022 Winnipeg mayoral platform — social housing, transit safety and homelessness — become priorities for Mayor Scott Gillingham.