Leadership update

Some new endorsements:

According to the CBC, Bill Blaikie has joined the Selinger camp while Swan has picked up Peter Bjornson, Dave Chomiak, and Ron Lemieux. Never Eat Yellow Snow claims that the elusive Bonnie Korzeniowski has joined the Selinger camp as well, though I await confirmation. Meanwhile Steve Ashton has won the support of Transcona councillor (and ex-EPC member) Russ Wyatt (source). Particularly interesting, though, will be who Frank Whitehead decides to support; since the nomination for the byelection in The Pas was fiercely contested, there are a lot of members in that riding, meaning they qualify for a lot of delegates. So Frank could be one of the most influential MLAs in the house right now.

The field narrows

Well, nobody's officially entered the race for Premier yet, though now that a convention date has been set that's about to change. Theresa Oswald, in a radio interview a few minutes ago, said that she'd be announcing her decision tomorrow, and others are likely to make their decision then as well (assuming they haven't already decided). Several have announced that they're not running, though. Judy Wasylycia-Leis, Nancy Allan, and Christine Melnick are all out, and today Bill Blaikie also announced that he won't be running. So who's left? Well, besides Oswald, Ashton, and Selinger, some have mentioned Family Services and Housing minister Gord Mackintosh, Conservation minister Stan Struthers, and Justice minister Dave Chomiak. Less likely, but mentioned in some articles, are Healthy Living minister Kerri Irvin-Ross and Rossmere MLA Bidhu Jha. And apparently Pat Martin hasn't ruled out a run either, though I personally wouldn't bet on it.

So who will win? Beats me. There are a lot of good candidates in that list; hopefully the best person will win. Maybe after tomorrow we'll have a better idea.

PS: Devin Johnston is keeping score here.

Gary Doer is moving on

The longest serving Premier in the country has decided to call it quits. He'll be missed, but I don't think it's the end of the road for his government. Certainly his personal popularity has been an important part of the NDP's success in Manitoba, but they're hardly a one man show; within his own caucus there are a number of worthy successors. Bill Blaikie, Theresa Oswald, and Greg Selinger would all be fine leaders, for instance; Blaikie is almost universally respected even by his opponents, Oswald has shown that she has the fortitude to stand up to a withering attack (as health minister she's had to fight off the Tory and Liberal attack dogs at every turn), and Selinger has done a fine job as finance minister. In this babble thread Scott Piatkowski suggests that Jennifer Howard ought to run, and he has a point; although she's a relative newcomer, she's highly intelligent and likeable. Steve Ashton is another possibility; someone calling themself Brodie, in a comment to this post at PolicyFrog's blog, claims that he's already sent out an email to his potential supporters, in fact (though this has to be treated as unconfirmed for now). Outside of caucus, some have suggested that Judy Wasylycia-Leis and/or Pat Martin might run as well, though that seems a bit less likely to me (and they'd be sorely missed at the federal level if they did).

We'll have to see how see how it goes. In any case, I think there's still plenty of life left in the provincial NDP; this should be more of a changing of the guard than the end of an era. Let's hope so, anyhow.

Not a huge surprise...

... though the party apparatchiks did their best to convince us it would be a tough battle:

The NDP has retained both of its seats up for grabs in Manitoba legislature byelections Tuesday.

Former MP Bill Blaikie emerged the victor by a comfortable margin over Progressive Conservative Adrian Schulz, Liberal Regan Wolfrom and James Beddome of the Green party in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood.

With 98 per cent of the polls reporting, Blaikie held 2,303 votes, compared to Schulz's 909 and Wolfrom's 802. Beddome registered 210 votes.

"I'm looking forward to being on the government side," said Blaikie, noting that will be a first in his lengthy political career.

"It's one of the reasons I chose to come out of retirement. I've always wondered how government works — now maybe I'll find out."

NDP candidate Frank Whitehead, former chief of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation, outpaced Progressive Conservative Edna Nabess and Liberal Maurice Berens in The Pas. With 75 per cent of the polls reporting, Whitehead had 2,449 votes, compared to Nabess's 680 and 219 for Berens.

CBC

Of course I'm happy with the outcome. Blaikie is one of the stalwarts of Canadian politics, while Whitehead is a promising newcomer. I could actually see us winning the next election; not only do we have a good team, but the other parties are in disarray, and Manitoba is withstanding the current crisis better than almost anywhere else.