Too close to call

Local riding still up for grabs

The Manitoba riding of Charleswood-st. Jamesassiniboia-headingley is undergoing a nail-biting vote count that will decide if the seat is held by Conservative incumbent Marty Morantz or transferred to Liberal Doug Eyolfson.

As of Tuesday afternoon Morantz held 38.9% of the vote, while Eyolfson held 38.7%. People's Party of Canada (PPC) candidate Angela Van Hussen sits at 3.6%.

“It doesn't surprise me that it's neck and neck,” Malcolm Bird, associate professor of political science at the University of Winnipeg told the Sun Tuesday. “The riding has swung back and forth and both of these fellows are very competent, capable individuals. They both served time in the riding as MP.”

Bird said Charleswood-st. James-Assiniboia-Headingley, along with Winnipeg South, which decisively re-elected Liberal Terry Duguid, are indicative of what happened across Canada during the election.

The fight, he explained, was basically over the suburbs — Liberals against Conservatives.

“Judging from the results, it looks like the Liberals were able to secure the suburban vote, particularly around the Greater Toronto Area, which of course is where many of these ridings are, and where much of the Liberal support is,” he said.

Could the PPC'S 3.6% vote in Charleswood-st. Jamesassiniboia-headingley scuttle Morantz's attempt at re-election?

Bird cautioned people against thinking of the PPC as an extreme rightwing group that siphoned votes away from the Conservatives.

“If this is our most radical fringe party in Canada, well, then, we are still pretty mainstream and average,” he said. “I think the support for the PPC is more eclectic and diverse than generally thought. I think there are lots of younger people, people of colour, and new Canadians who are attracted to the PPC because of its concern for individual rights, freedoms and liberties.”

Manitoba Premier Kelvin Goertzen holds his own views of the PPC. In a news conference on Tuesday, he responded to a question about gains made by the PPC in the Portagelisgar riding — 20.8% of the vote.

He said in certain parts of Canada there were “parties” that framed their campaigns around pandemic response. Goertzen said the Liberals, Conservatives and NDP broadly see the need to work together to move past the pandemic.

“Those other parties who had different views, I mean, it's a democratic system, so they expressed it and those who decided to support them did so in that democratic system,” he said. “Obviously these are divided times, and I think that's one of the things that's most unfortunate that we've seen over the last 18 months is how divided society is.”

Due to mail-in ballots it could take days to declare a winner in Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley.