Premier Greg Selinger is commending Clarence Pettersen after the Flin Flon MLA lost the NDP nomination for the April election.
In a late-December interview, the Winnipeg Free Press asked Selinger whether the defeat of Pettersen, who once called on the premier to resign, reflected ongoing internal turmoil within the NDP.
“Clarence did a good job, and I worked closely with him on several things,” Selinger told the newspaper. “It was local people that made the decision [to oust him] in a nomination meeting. It was the same candidate [who won] that ran against him four years ago... I want to thank Clarence for his service as an MLA to his community and to this legislature.”
Last month, NDP members in the Flin Flon constituency chose Tom Lindsey as their candidate for the next election.
Pettersen, who remains MLA until April, is deciding whether to seek re-election as an independent, a possibility he first publicly raised in December 2014.
