NDP handily retains northern seat in byelection

Voters in The Pas-Kameesak stuck with the NDP — big time — in Tuesday’s byelection.

With all polls reporting, New Democrat Jennifer Flett received 74 per cent of the votes in the race to replace the late NDP MLA Amanda Lathlin. Flett, a former vice-chief and councillor for Opaskwayak Cree Nation, got a stronger mandate than the NDP received in the 2023 provincial election, when Lathlin received 67 per cent support.

Premier Wab Kinew welcomed Flett to the NDP caucus.

“She knows what families in her communities need, and I look forward to working with her to deliver better health care and more good jobs for The Pas-Kameesak,” he said in a release.

Tuesday’s byelection pitted former PC party operative and social conservative Wally Daudrich — who quit the Tories to run for the Keystone Party — against perennial PC candidate Edna Nabess, an entrepreneur.

Political analysts expected the two candidates with Tory ties would split the right-of-centre vote and help secure an NDP win.

Flett easily secured the NDP seat on her own, garnering more than 2,000 votes than Nabess, who won 17 per cent of the vote.

“It’s completely incredible,” Flett said by phone. “I am so humbled by the amount of the percentage I won by – it shows people believe that I can do a good job,” she said. “I’m so appreciative of the earned trust through their votes. People have heard me, they know me and believe I can do the job.”

She said the NDP is listening to their needs for increased access to health care, elder care and addictions treatment.   “Our hospital is oldest in Manitoba,” Flett said. The NDP has vowed to build a new health centre in The Pas by 2030. “We need the services here.”

Daudrich finished last with 105 votes. He was behind Liberal Dan Quesnel, a bank branch manager and former president of The Pas/Opaskwayak Cree Nation Chamber of Commerce, who earned four per cent of the vote.

Daudrich said he wasn’t expecting to win after entering the race so late that there wasn’t time to print lawn signs.

“Second would be a real win for us,” he said Tuesday before the polls closed.

“We’re running on a shoestring, but we’re getting doors knocked and we’re getting some results,” said the Churchill tourism operator who switched to the fledgling Keystone Party after the PCs disqualified him from running under their banner in the 2027 general election.

“We don’t have all the resources that some of the big parties have,” said the former PC leadership candidate who narrowly lost to Obby Khan.

The Pas-Kameesak does have a wealth of untapped natural resources because the NDP and the PCs “aren’t willing to stand up for everyday values of everyday people.” He said Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario are thriving because they’re willing to develop their resources.

“We have the wealth beneath our feet here in northern Manitoba. All we’ve got to do is get the people in power, somebody like myself, who can say yes instead of no to economic development.” Daudrich said that’s what he heard knocking on doors in the sprawling riding where businesses are closing and addictions are soaring.

“I would say that there’s a lot of very angry people and angry people are motivated voters, frankly.”

Daudrich said he’s staying with the right-wing populist Keystone Party, regardless of the outcome. “This is a long-term project.”

Nabess, who’s in her late 60s, said she used a phone app to track her steps for the PCs during the 20-day campaign through the constituency that includes Cormorant, The Pas, Opaskwayak Cree Nation, Grand Rapids, Easterville, Pinaymootang First Nation and Peguis First Nation.

“We’ve been doing nine miles (14 kilometres) a day,” said the experienced campaigner who in 2019 ran unsuccessfully for the PCs in Fort Rouge, the Winnipeg seat held by Premier Wab Kinew whose NDP formed government in 2023.

“I think I did a lot better this time because people are tired of hearing promises after promises,” Nabess said Tuesday. “They need change — the north has been forgotten for far too long,” said the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation elder and a founding board member of Indigenous Tourism Manitoba.

“A lot of people at the doors are telling me that we need jobs, we need health care, we need an addictions centre. We don’t need safe injection sites,” she said referring to the NDP support for a supervised consumption site in Winnipeg.

“Wab is the premier, and somebody needs to be on the other side of the table and holding him to account for what he’s promising,” she said.

“If I’m not in this time, maybe I’ll get in next time.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca