Pauls gives NDP hope in Turtle Mountain
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If anybody doubts the NDP’s determination to win seats in southwestern Manitoba in the next provincial election, scheduled for October of next year, they aren’t paying attention to the story that is unfolding.
Last August, the New Democrats came within a few dozen votes of winning the byelection in the Spruce Woods riding, which has been held by the Progressive Conservatives since it was created decades ago. Now, the NDP have their sights set on another longtime Tory stronghold, Turtle Mountain.
The riding, which is located in the southwest corner of the province, is currently represented by PC MLA Doyle Piwniuk, who was first elected in the Arthur-Virden riding in 2014. That riding was dissolved in 2019, however, and he won the Turtle Mountain seat that year. He announced in November that he will not be seeking re-election in the next general election, but intends to remain as MLA until then.
At the time of that announcement, Piwniuk told the Sun that “I wanted to make sure that Turtle Mountain had … time to select my successor for being a strong voice for Turtle Mountain and western Manitoba.” He may get his wish, but that strong-voiced successor may end up being a New Democrat, not a Progressive Conservative.
On Monday, the NDP nominated Rick Pauls as its candidate in Turtle Mountain for the upcoming general election. Pauls has plenty of experience as an elected official in the riding, having previously served as mayor of Killarney between 2007 and 2020 and currently serving as a councillor.
He is also something of a political chameleon. He’s a former card-carrying federal Conservative, he sought the Liberal nomination for the 2013 Brandon-Souris byelection, and now he’s a New Democrat. Voters may regard that as proof of his ability to work with people of all political stripes.
Following the nomination meeting, Premier Wab Kinew described Pauls as “a very, very high-calibre candidate,” and boasted that “I think with a great candidate, we’ve got a shot at the seat, which has been longtime Conservative, but where people, I think, want to have representation.”
He appears to be alluding to the fact that Piwniuk, a Virden resident, doesn’t live in the Turtle Mountain riding. Pauls also emphasized that point, telling reporters that “I think we want some local leadership, somebody who has lived here all their life.”
“We see the Conservatives on the ballot, we see them during the election time, and then we really don’t see them, and it’s about time that we had a local representative walking up and down main streets again,” he added.
That argument is aimed at both Piwniuk and the person who hopes to succeed him as the riding’s Tory MLA. Wally Daudrich, who finished second in last year’s PC leadership race, is currently the only declared candidate for the PC nomination in Turtle Mountain. The problem for the Tories, however, is that he has even fewer connections to Turtle Mountain than Piwniuk. He doesn’t live in the riding and operates a business in Churchill. That’s a point Pauls and Kinew clearly plan to exploit should Daudrich win the PC nomination.
That isn’t the only reason why Turtle Mountain will be a riding to watch in the next election. The premier has repeatedly said he is determined to win seats in areas of the province that have a long history of being represented by Tory MLAs, and the NDP almost won Spruce Woods last summer.
With more time to campaign in Turtle Mountain and a popular candidate with a long record of elected service in the area, Kinew meant it when he told reporters that “having a great candidate, being ready, having time to talk to southwestern Manitobans, that’s all part of our message. We’re serious about representing rural.”
It’s a smart approach, in that it forces the Tories to spend time and resources protecting what would normally be safe seats, and effectively prevents them from seriously challenging for seats currently held by NDP MLAs.
The Tories would be wise to take Kinew’s comments and strategy seriously. He and Pauls are playing for keeps in Turtle Mountain, and nobody should question their commitment and ability to win that riding.