By the time NDP Premier Greg Selinger calls a by-election in the provincial constituency of Morris, residents will have gone without representation in the Legislature for a year. Manitoba Progressive Conservative House Leader, Kelvin Goertzen, says that is both undemocratic and politically motivated and today introduced legislation to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
“Our democratic system is based on people having an elected person in the Manitoba Legislature to represent their views and advocate for their best interests. Premier Selinger has denied the residents of the Morris Constituency that democratic right for nearly a year,” said Goertzen. “While I would prefer to be able to rely on the honour of the Premier to call by-elections in a reasonable time, that doesn’t seem to be an option with this Premier.”
Under existing Manitoba law, a by-election has to be called within one year of a seat becoming vacant although it has been rare that a year has been taken. The new legislation would require by-elections to be called within six months except if there is a state of emergency in the vacated riding or a general election was within a year. It would correspond to timeframes in federal legislation and most other provinces.
Goertzen said despite repeated calls for the by-election in Morris to be called the Premier has refused, raising the concern that it has not been called sooner because the NDP feels it may not win the seat.
“This is a Premier that can’t seem to put his own personal self-interest aside and put the interests of Manitobans first. Representation delayed is representation denied,” said Goertzen.
