Reid upbeat about his chances

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This article was published 08/08/2025 (233 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Voters in Brandon’s North Hill don’t think the Liberals have a shot at winning the upcoming Spruce Woods byelection, something Liberal candidate Stephen Reid disagrees with.

“I think the Liberal party in Manitoba is in trouble. The Liberal Party is just so small now,” said Rob Johnson, who lives on Brandon’s North Hill.

Johnson, 73, said it might be possible for the NDP to win the seat, but doesn’t have much faith in the Liberals in the upcoming byelection.

“I think the big Wab wave hit last election, and you couldn’t stop it,” Johnson said. “I don’t know whether it can regroup.”

The Sun tagged along with Reid and Manitoba Liberal party president Terry Hayward as they went door-knocking on the North Hill on Friday. Reid said he thinks he has a good shot at winning.

“This is very much a three-way race right now, and I want people to know that their vote for me is a vote for a voice,” Reid said on Friday.

In 2023, the Liberal party finished with just over 14 per cent of the vote in the riding, nearly double its next best finish. The party has only finished in last place in the riding’s history, twice finishing third of three and twice fourth of four.

“I am definitely very confident that we’re going to get a lot more than that,” he said. “I think we have some real, real opportunity to kind of come up the middle here and represent people.”

In the last provincial election, the Liberals won one of 57 seats in the legislature, down from three in 2019. Leader Dougald Lamont was among those who lost his seat.

“The Manitoba Liberal Party, being such a small caucus right now, can really only go up,” Reid said. “The party is really invested in bringing a voice to the people of Manitoba that isn’t being heard by the NDP or the PC government.”

Reid, 49, told people at their doors he’s a voice that’s different from the NDP — one that won’t get lost in the shuffle of all the other NDP MLAs.

He gave out flyers campaigning on “real representation for Brandon north,” and about how North Hill residents are left out of Brandon East and West ridings, which is why he would represent them well.

Reid, who teaches high school in Brandon, was born and raised in the city, but doesn’t live in the riding. He said the current NDP government is doing a poor job at health care, roads and investment in the riding.

John Russell, 69, said if Reid was a federal Liberal candidate, he would be more likely to replace the NDP candidate Ray Berthelette sign on his lawn with one supporting Reid.

“If you were running federally, I’d have your sign on the lawn right away,” Russell told Reid. “It’s not anything that you could have done, but it’s again, the whole track record of Liberals.”

Russell said Reid needs to hit it out of the park while debating the other candidates in order to have a chance.

Cheryl McFaddin, 63, said “it’s going to be tough” for the party to have success once polls open, and that she doesn’t think the party can win.

She said the party really needs to focus on things like health care, homelessness and lowering taxes to become more relevant.

McFaddin predicted the NDP are going to flip the riding from blue to orange once votes are counted.

» alambert@brandonsun.com