Rural councillor to seek PC Turtle Mountain nomination

BRANDON — A rural councillor is entering the race to represent the Progressive Conservatives in one of the party’s stronghold seats in western Manitoba.

Mark Custance, a councillor in the Municipality of Two Borders, announced his intention Wednesday in Brandon.

Wally Daudrich, who lost to Obby Khan for the party’s leadership last year, has also said he will vie for the Tory nomination in Turtle Mountain. Daudrich received more votes than Khan, but lost because votes were weighted by constituency.

Current PC Turtle Mountain MLA Doyle Piwniuk announced in November he would not stand for re-election, which must be held on or before Oct. 5, 2027.

Custance said his priorities are investments in infrastructure and health care and making the region in the southwest part of the province a good place to live.

“My focus is to give people more reasons to stay, know that they’re going to be safe, that they’re going to have medical care, and that they’re going to be able to have a business and have a life,” said the 41-year-old Custance, who lives in the Pierson area with his wife and five children and co-owns Real Garlic/Real Greens, which grows produce in greenhouses.

“If they have to go to Winnipeg for medical appointments all the time, we don’t want that,” he said.

The NDP announced last month that Rick Pauls, a former Killarney-Turtle Mountain mayor, will run under the party’s banner.

Custance was elected as a councillor in 2022 after narrowly losing a seat in the 2018 municipal election.

He said his time as a councillor will help if he is elected as an MLA. That includes having had regular talks with reeves and mayors in the region, speaking with residents and going to events.

“Just having my ear to the ground, really, and having those relationships already, helps me hear what people are saying,” he said.

While Custance and Pauls live in the constituency, Daudrich splits his time between Churchill and the Morden area, which is just east of the Turtle Mountain constituency.

Custance said he is running for the party because “the PCs represent the strongest rural voice” in Manitoba and that Tory MLAs showed up to get things accomplished for the region, specifically on a hydroponic operation.

The PCs under Piwniuk have won Turtle Mountain by more than 32 percentage points in the two elections since the seat was recreated, while NDP support in rural areas has been rising since the 2023 election.

The NDP has 47 per cent support in rural and northern areas, compared to 43 per cent support for the PCs, according to a Probe Research poll done for the Winnipeg Free Press last month.

Across the province, the NDP holds 55 per cent support compared to 35 per cent support for the PCs, the poll found.

The PCs haven’t announced how the nomination process will proceed.

“We welcome the interest from all potential PC candidates in what will be an exciting nomination process,” party president Peter Smith said.

— Brandon Sun