Voters in Winnipeg’s Elmwood-Transcona hit the polls ahead of a very important byelection

Voters in Winnipeg’s Elmwood-Transcona area hit the polls Monday, as the byelection to replace former NDP MP Daniel Blaikie and choose a new representative occurs.

NDP candidate Leila Dance is trying to hold onto the seat for her party, which has won the Elmwood-Transcona riding every election, except for 2011, when the Conservatives, under Stephen Harper, were victorious in a majority government. The Conservative candidate for this byelection is Colin Reynolds.

“It’s an interesting case where this is a battle between the NDP and the Tories and the Tories are really going after what has traditionally been an NDP base, which is working class and unionized voters, and we will get to see if their message is appealing,” said Malcolm Bird, a political science professor at the University of Winnipeg.

The Liberals are running candidate Ian MacIntyre and the Green’s are running Nicolas Geddert. The People’s Party and the Canadian Future Party are also on the ballot.

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The seat itself was left vacant after Blaikie, who won three elections for the NDP, resigned back in March to take a job with Wab Kinew and the Manitoba NDP government.

“It’s definitely pre-election mode right now and I think that this byelection in some ways is going to be the start of the countdown towards that,” said Curtis Brown, a partner with Probe Research Inc.

Polling stations for voters opened at 8:30 a.m. and close at 8:30 p.m. Around 14 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots in advance voting. Brown says this byelection is a major test for the NDP.

“If a seat like Elmwood-Transcona goes against them, there are a lot of other seats in the country that the NDP have and would want to contest in and would have to look over the shoulder of the Conservatives, so I think in that sense, it is a really important test for them. For the Conservatives, I think the stakes are a lot lower, and try to have a federal election sooner rather than later,” explained Brown.

Bird says there are many issues at stake here ahead of this byelection, with cost of living at the forefront.

“I think Canadians are suffering, prices are rising, rents are rising, mortgage rates are rising, people, Canadian families are suffering and they want their governments to take tangible actions to help them.”