A Canadian Press report Wednesday raised new questions over whether Flin Flon MLA Clarence Pettersen will return to government caucus meetings or be permitted to seek re-election as a New Democrat.
While Premier Greg Selinger said he planned to soon meet with MLAs who tried to oust him, CP reported that it “was unclear as to whether the rebels will fully regain caucus privileges and whether they will be allowed to run under the NDP banner in the next election.”
CP quoted Selinger as saying that “every nomination meeting is something that has to be planned out ... but right now we’re working on how we come together to make sure we’re focused on the needs of Manitobans.”
The NDP’s 25-member provincial executive, which includes Selinger and a president he endorsed, gets the final say on candidate nominations, the report noted.
When the prospect of his losing the NDP nomination was raised late last year, Pettersen said was “not worried about that” and, without directly saying so, indicated he will be a candidate in the next election with or without the NDP.
“I right now am NDP and I believe in their philosophy, so I’m NDP,” he told a public forum. “But I do have options. I’m not going to say what those options are.”
