Isleifson holds on to Brandon East

The winds of change that swept through Brandon East in 2016 stayed true in 2019 as the Progressive Conservatives held onto the constituency — keeping the NDP from reclaiming their traditional stronghold.

Residents voted to send Progressive Conservative Len Isleifson back to the legislature on Tuesday for a second term, stopping NDP candidate and former Brandon city councillor Lonnie Patterson from retaking the seat for her party.

Speaking at the local Progressive Conservative election party at the Riverbank Discovery Centre to approximately 75 supporters, Isleifson said the last three and a half years is proof that hard work pays off. He said he hit the doorstep almost daily getting feedback on his performance as an MLA and the government’s decisions.

“I think tonight’s results shows that over the last three and a half years that blue wave is gone and now people are very confident and very comfortable with our government moving forward with a plan that is going to do exactly that, and that’s move Manitoba forward,” he said.

Helwer reclaims Brandon West seat

Reg Helwer has reclaimed his seat as MLA for Brandon West. The Progressive Conservative incumbent won 4,307 votes, beating out his closest challenger NDP candidate Nick Brown, who secured 1,747 votes.

Green party candidate Robert Brown received 744 votes and Liberal candidate Sunday Frangi collecting the remaining 564 votes.

“I’m very happy, our team worked very hard and it was successful in Brandon West. … I’m very honoured that Brandon West voters elected me again to represent them,” Helwer told The Brandon Sun on Tuesday night. “The other candidates ran a very clean and polite campaign, so that’s just a bonus.”

Brandon West lost territory in the north to Spruce Woods in electoral-division redistribution in 2018. The section on Brandon’s North Hill, north of the Assiniboine River, was added to the more rural constituency.

Cullen cruises to victory

There wasn’t much doubt about the outcome of the election in Spruce Woods as Cliff Cullen, the Progressive Conservative incumbent, handily reclaimed his seat in the Manitoba legislature.

Cullen was in Winnipeg Tuesday to share in the PC victory march.

NDP candidate Justin Shannon came in a distant second, followed by Green Party of Manitoba candidate Gordon Beddome and Liberal candidate Jennifer Harcus bringing up the rear.

In a telephone interview from Winnipeg, Cullen thanked those who supported him and gave him their vote of confidence once again.

Texas tipping point? Dems face reality check in GOP bastions

PROSPER, Texas - Thirty new students are from Arizona, and nearly 100 moved from California. But the small town of Prosper, Texas, is expecting more growth — a lot more — so it built a $53 million high school football stadium outside Dallas, just two years after finally getting a Walmart.

The scoreboard is 63 feet (19 metres) tall, the biggest at any Texas high school, and on a Saturday night it blared Aerosmith's "Dream On" as band mom Lisa DeMarco settled into one of the 12,000 seats. She's heard "a few liberals" have moved in but doesn't know any.

By holding Thursday's presidential debate in Houston, Democrats are out to show the rest of the country they can finally win again in Texas, propelled by fast-changing suburbs like Prosper that are beginning to trend more liberal after decades of Republican dominance. But for Democrats, the transformation may not come by 2020.

"It's a red state. I love the Second Amendment part of it, and I don't like the fact there's a lot of people talking blue," said DeMarco, herself a newcomer from Georgia.

How to vote in today’s election

Manitobans head to the polls today to vote in the provincial election.

In Brandon, voters will weigh in at one of three constituencies: Brandon East, Brandon West and Spruce Woods.

Brandon East voters will choose between Progressive Conservative candidate Len Isleifson (incumbent), NDP candidate Lonnie Patterson and Liberal candidate Kim Longstreet.

Brandon West voters have the choice between Progressive Conservative candidate Reg Helwer (incumbent), NDP candidate Nick Brown, Liberal candidate Sunday Frangi and Green Party candidate Robert Brown.

Liberals unveil costed-out party platform

After weeks of promises, Manitoba Liberals on Sunday revealed how much they will all cost and how they plan to pay for them.

The platform paper was released in Winnipeg by Leader Dougald Lamont.

“Hundreds of thousands of Manitobans are going to the polls Tuesday with doubt in their hearts. They can’t trust who they’re voting for is going to fix anything,” Lamont said in a news release.

“The Manitoba Liberal Party is here to show them we can work smarter, invest in growth, keep people healthy, and save the climate — all while balancing the budget.

Pallister fiery at Brandon campaign stop

In a fiery pre-election speech to approximately 100 supporters in Brandon on Friday afternoon, Brian Pallister asked Brandonites to put their trust in him for another four-year mandate.

The leader of the Progressive Conservative party was at the Riverview Curling Club for what is likely his last stop in Brandon before Tuesday’s provincial election.

Pallister touted his government’s action to lower the provincial sales tax by one per cent and build a new school in Brandon — two things he said the previous NDP government promised to do but didn’t.

“This election is about a lot of things,” he said. “It is about trust though, it is about making sure that we get what is promised to us.”

Big night for the NDP

 Greg Selinger may be no Gary Doer, but he can still deliver a majority government.

 Any doubts about Selinger's leadership of the party he inherited from his popular predecessor were erased Tuesday night when he led the NDP to its fourth consecutive majority government.

 Selinger and the NDP won 37 seats, the larges majority in Manitoba history. It is one more than they had prior to the election. They needed 29 for a majority.

 "Something big is happening in Manitoba," a grinning Selinger told a roaring crowd at the Winnipeg Convention Centre. "I've never been so optimistic than I am tonight about the future of Manitoba."

More people voted than in 2007

It turns out voter turnout wasn’t as terrible as first predicted.

As the votes rolled in late Tuesday night, initial numbers suggested just over half of Manitoba voters actually hit the polls.

Better tallies this morning put the number at 57.47 per cent, slightly better than in 2007 when 56.75 per cent of Manitobans cast a ballot. That could be thanks to a significant number of voters who hit advance polls and tight races in several ridings that made voters feel their choice really mattered.

Beaten McFadyen to quit

Hugh McFadyen got more Manitobans to vote Tory on Tuesday than four years ago, but he couldn't improve his party's standing where it counted -- in the legislature.

So, the 44-year-old Conservative leader said it was time to let someone else try.

There were moans among the 150 party workers and supporters at party headquarters Tuesday night as McFadyen announced that he would step down as leader as soon as a replacement could be found.

"The reality is this in politics: You have to deliver bottom-line results if you want to carry on as leader of the party. We didn't get the result that we wanted," he said, with his wife Jennifer, son James, 7, and daughter Rachael, 9, at his side. (It was James' birthday.)

NDP Grand Slam!

It was a historic night for Manitoba’s NDP as Premier Greg Selinger led his party to its fourth straight majority win on Tuesday night.

But the election was a huge disappointment for the Progressive Conservatives as the party failed to make needed inroads into several key Winnipeg constituencies, and the political map looked much as it had before the election.

And as a result, Hugh McFadyen announced he was stepping down as leader of Manitoba’s Progressive Consevatives after losing provincial election.

McFadyen told supporters he takes personal responsibility for the failure and will step down once a replacement is chosen.

Caldwell earns fourth mandate

It’s a fourth mandate for Drew Caldwell in Brandon East, as the NDP incumbent cruised to easy re-election in the constituency he has represented since 1999 on Tuesday night.

Caldwell led the polls all evening and with 49 of 52 polls reporting at last night’s press time, Caldwell held the lead over Progressive Conservative candidate Mike Waddell, 3,320 votes to 2,387.

At the time, Liberal candidate Shaun Cameron was trailing far behind with 239 votes and Green Party candidate Vanda Fleury was bringing in the rear with 147 votes.

Caldwell said his fourth consecutive election to the legislature has left him “humbled.”

Clash of colours

Polarized politics?

For sure.

Rural Manitoba is solidly Conservative across almost all the south, a sea of orange from the south end of the Interlake to the Arctic.

The New Democrats held Brandon East, Selkirk, Gimli, and the redistributed Dawson Trail, their only southern outposts outside the Perimeter.

NDP keeps urban strongholds

You can't win a Manitoba election without doing well in the city of Winnipeg, home to 31 of 57 provincial ridings and 55 per cent of the population.

And the New Democratic Party continues to own Manitoba's capital after winning all but five seats inside the Perimeter Highway -- 25 seats, up from 24 in 2007.

Manitoba's Progressive Conservatives had high hopes for growth inside the city, but wound up holding on to the four seats it carried into the 2011 election: Charleswood, Tuxedo, Fort Whyte and River East.

Manitoba's Liberals, which won two Winnipeg seats in 2007 but left one up for grabs when Kevin Lamoureux resigned to run for federal office, are left with a single seat in River Heights.

New boss, same as the old boss

If there was a moment when the NDP first saw things going its way, it was midway through the campaign when Premier Greg Selinger and the Winnipeg Jets' Mark Chipman said they'd be partners to help at-risk kids.

There was some sniping the NDP was using the Jets to unfairly boost its re-election chances and the news conference itself smacked of a government announcement, not an election promise.

The NDP war room instead focused on the big picture.

"Any time you can get Greg and Mark Chipman together on the front page, it's good no matter what the story is," an NDP insider said.

Manitoba Tory Leader Hugh McFadyen stepping down after losing election

WINNIPEG - Manitoba Progressive Conservatives will be searching for a new leader after Hugh McFadyen announced his resignation following a disappointing election loss Tuesday to the governing NDP.

McFadyen said he felt he had little choice but to step down when his party failed to add significantly more seats to its standings from the last election. The Tories were elected or leading in 21 constituencies — only two more than in 2007.

"You have to deliver bottom-line results if you want to carry on as leader of the party. We didn't get the result we wanted so I am announcing tonight that I will be stepping down as our party leader," McFadyen said to gasps from a sombre crowd.

"I'll be inviting others to step up and take the opportunity to lead our party into the future."

NDP wins fourth majority in Manitoba

Manitoba’s New Democrats will remain in power for another four years after winning their fourth consecutive majority.

Premier Greg Selinger will lead a large contingent of MLAs in the Manitoba Legislature, as his NDP are elected or leading in 37 out of Manitoba’s 57 seats.

The result is validation for Selinger, who was in his first campaign as the NDP’s boss.

He was elected leader in 2009 and opinion polls earlier this year had suggested the party had fallen well back of the Progressive Conservatives.

Manitoba Tory leader feeling confident as province goes to the polls

WINNIPEG - Manitoba's Conservative leader says he feels confident as voters go to the polls.

Hugh McFadyen (mihk-FAH'-din) cast his ballot in the riding held by the provincial Liberal leader.

McFadyen says he will likely get butterflies in his stomach but, for now, he feels confident.

He says Manitoba is ready for a change and voters will kick the ruling NDP out of office.