Manitoba’s two biggest political parties have selected their Flin Flon candidates for the upcoming provincial election.
The Manitoba NDP and Progressive Conservative (PC) parties both announced their choices last week, with a new face joining the fold for the PCs and a familiar one continuing on for the NDP.
Tom Lindsey, Flin Flon’s sitting MLA, will run for a second term as the city’s representative in provincial legislature, having earned the NDP’s nomination.
“The answer is yes,” said Lindsey to The Reminder when asked if he would run again in the next election.
“I am the NDP candidate [for Flin Flon] in the next election, whenever that is.”
Lindsey moved to Flin Flon from southern Saskatchewan in 1974, working for HBM&S and becoming active with the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 7106. Lindsey served as the union’s local health and safety representative for two decades before retiring in 2014 and first seeking election in 2016.
Meanwhile, a challenger for Lindsey’s seat has appeared, in the form of the new PC nominee. Theresa Wride was confirmed April 26 by members of the party’s local chapter as the PC candidate for Flin Flon in the next Manitoba provincial election.
PC regional president Wally Daudrich confirmed Wride’s candidacy at a meeting held at the Victoria Inn in Flin Flon.
Some of the PCs’ heavy hitters were in attendance to lend support to Wride, including Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister and provincial Minister of Growth, Enterprise and Trade Blaine Pedersen.
Originally from Norway House and a member of the Norway House Cree Nation, Wride works as a career counsellor and job coach with the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies (SIIT) work prep centre in Creighton.
“My focus will be to see how I can be an effective leader in our area. I’ll do my best at what I know what to do. I believe it will naturally fall into place, how things should be, but I will do my best,” she said following the official announcement.
Wride is the first Indigenous woman ever to earn the PC nomination in the Flin Flon riding. Pallister gave the party’s newest candidate his utmost support in a speech to party supporters, spending equal parts praising the party’s work as Manitoba’s ruling party while critiquing past government policies under the now-opposition Manitoba NDP.
“The entire team is behind her, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.
“On a personal level, you see how personable she is. She’s an accomplished person. She’s well-respected and liked. She has the qualities that we look for on our team. She works well with other people. She’s honest. She’s sincere. I think she’ll be a wonderful representative, and she knows the riding, obviously. Her whole life has been here.”
The Flin Flon constituency has been firm NDP territory for five decades, with five separate NDP MLAs winning each provincial election in the region dating back to 1969. In the 2016 provincial election, NDP winner Lindsey defeated former PC candidate Angela Enright by 152 votes in one of the province’s most wide-open election fields. Four candidates, including Lindsey, Enright, Manitoba Liberal Party candidate Leslie Beck and former NDP MLA and independent candidate Clarence Pettersen, all received at least 10 per cent of the vote.
Boundaries for the Flin Flon riding were redrawn late last year to include Norway House, Wride’s birthplace.
Last week, the PCs also nominated a new candidate for The Pas-Kameesak, choosing former Norway House Cree Nation chief Ron Evans for the vacant post. NDP MLA Amanda Lathlin has represented the region since 2015, winning a byelection before defeating PC candidate Doug Lauvstad in 2016 to represent The Pas.
The Manitoba Liberal Party has not yet announced who will run as the party’s candidate in Flin Flon. A party spokesperson confirmed to The Reminder that a candidate would be nominated “in the coming weeks”.
While a firm election date has not been set, the next vote will be held either on or before Oct. 6, 2020.
