Carr retains seat in Winnipeg South Centre after ‘tough campaign’

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This article was published 20/09/2021 (1476 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Supporters of incumbent Liberal candidate Jim Carr toasted his victory in Winnipeg South Centre Monday night at a Grant Park pub.

Carr, a Manitoba cabinet minister who was seeking re-election after winning the seat in 2015, pulled ahead of the competition early in the evening. As of Tuesday morning, he had secured 45 per cent of the vote with 200 out of 201 polls reporting.

The six-way race included Conservative candidate Joyce Bateman, who represented the riding from 2011 to 2015. She had earned 26.9 per cent of the vote. New Democratic Party candidate Julia Riddell had 21 per cent.

“There’s always a sense of satisfaction and relief after a campaign, and this was a tough campaign,” Carr said following his victory speech.

“You know, we’ve been governing for six years, and over that period we make some tough decisions, and inevitably there are people who are going to see the world differently, but I’m very grateful that so many people in Winnipeg South Centre have chosen the Liberal option and have shown their confidence in us.”

About two dozen Carr supporters gathered at Fionn MacCool’s on Grant Avenue to mark the occasion in a markedly smaller celebration compared to the banquet halls his campaign filled to celebrate his previous two election wins.

Carr was re-elected in 2019, and the day after, was diagnosed with multiple-myeloma and immediately began receiving treatment for the disease, which has also affected his kidneys.

He was appointed special advisor to the Prairies in 2019 and was returned to Trudeau’s cabinet in January of this year with the title of “special representative for the Prairies,” but without a portfolio.

Carr thanked voters in the riding for providing him with a third term in Ottawa and said “politics is about community.”

“It’s about connections, it’s about families, it’s about neighbourhood, and campaigning is really the most important part of the political process; that’s when you connect with the people who matter the most, the ones who see your name on the ballot,” he said.

Bateman, reached by phone at her campaign headquarters Monday night, said she would wait until all the ballots are counted before commenting on the results.

A total of 5,806 special ballots, including mail-in ballots, were issued in Winnipeg South Centre. Those ballots will not be counted until Tuesday.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca