Manitoba NDP bet big on health care, rode wave of discontent with Tories on way to victory – CBC

Oct 04, 2023

PCs gambled and lost on underestimating health care, focus on ‘nasty divisive politics’: Brandon U prof

Manitoba’s New Democratic Party rode to a resounding victory Tuesday night on the back of long-simmering frustration and anger with the province’s Progressive Conservatives — something the governing party couldn’t shake, even with a new face at the helm.

The NDP victory also signalled that despite all the noise of the campaign — from escalating PC attack ads in its waning days to a focus on divisive issues, including a vague call for parental rights in schools and a refusal to search a landfill for the remains of two First Nations homicide victims — it was the issues that mattered to voters.

And the winning party’s choice of health care as the issue to focus on seems to have been a smart one. That topic made its way into nearly all the NDP’s announcements on the campaign trail, and into premier-designate Wab Kinew’s victory speech on Tuesday night — where front-line workers were the very first people he addressed.

“To the people in health care, to the people working in the bedside today, to the people thinking of pursuing a career, to health-care workers across the country and other provinces around the world, I have a simple message to you. We need you,” Kinew said in a speech to a room filled with ecstatic supporters, as he was surrounded on stage by his wife, Dr. Lisa Monkman, and their children.

Read More: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/2023-election-analysis-kinew-stefanson-1.6986075