Manitoba Liberal MLA Judy Klassen was acclaimed as the candidate for the federal Liberals in the Northern Manitoba riding of Churchill-Keewatinook Aski July 4.
The nomination took place in Klassen’s home community of St. Theresa Point, a fly-in First Nation in the Island Lake region of Manitoba’s northeast.
“I am honoured and humbled by your support and will give my service to improving the lives of people in the north,” said Klassen in a press release. "The North is my home, these are my people and I will dedicate my public service to delivering results in improving the lives of Northern Manitobans."
Klassen was elected as Keewatinook MLA in 2016, defeating former NDP MLA Eric Robinson as one of three successful Liberal candidates in the election that brought Premier Brian Pallister’s Progressive Conservative government into power, breaking a 17-year hold on government by the provincial NDP. She announced in April that she would be seeking the federal nomination, though it had been rumoured that she would since early March. Klassen will be up against NDP candidate Niki Ashton, who has represented Churchill and then Churchill-Keewatinook Aski since 2008, though her margin of victory shrank considerably in the last election from the previous one. Ashton beat Liberal candidate Rebecca Chartrand, who doesn’t live in Northern Manitoba, by fewer than 1,000 votes in the 2015 federal election, while she beat Conservative candidate Wally Daudrich from Churchill by 5,000 votes in the 2011 election.
The Churchill-Keewatinook Aski riding is 75 per cent Indigenous and many of its First Nations are accessible only by air or by winter roads. The median income of $16,606 is the lowest in Canada, and the median age of 26.3 is second lowest. It has a child poverty rate of 64.2 per cent, the worst of any of Canada’s 338 federal ridings.
"The people of the North are at a critical time of much-needed investments,” said Klassen’s press release announcing that she had captured the nomination. “We have already seen the damage of Conservative austerity in the North by Brian Pallister, further austerity under [leader] Andrew Scheer and the federal Conservatives would be devastating for Northern Manitoba. Justin Trudeau and the federal Liberal party are the only choice to deliver the much-needed investment the North needs."
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Arlen Dumas said Klassen has provided strong leadership and representation for First Nations people and communities in the provincial legislature and congratulated her on being nominated as the federal Liberal candidate in Churchill-Keewatinook Aski.
“Judy has been a formidable First Nations voice in the Manitoba legislature and in the province of Manitoba,” said Dumas. “She has brought the issues of northern First Nations to the forefront and continues to keep the current government accountable. The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has been proud to work with Judy on a number of issues and looks forward to collaborating more in the future. We congratulate Ms. Klassen on her accomplishments and we wish her well in the upcoming federal election.”
Klassen’s decision to jump into federal politics will put the Manitoba Liberal Party at risk of losing official party status, which it just regained last summer for the first time since 1995 when party leader Dougald Lamont won a byelection in Winnipeg’s St. Boniface riding to give the party four seats.
River Heights MLA Jon Gerrard and Burrows MLA Cindy Lamoureux are the Manitoba Liberals’ other MLAs.
Official party status gives parties access to funding, research staff and a guaranteed presence during Question Period and on committees.
Lamont told the Canadian Press in March that he knew about Klassen’s possible departure but expected that he would have his party’s full complement of MLAs at election time, because he believed the Progressive Conservative government would call it in the spring. PC leader Brian Pallister announced in June that Manitoba’s next provincial election would be held Sept. 10, more than a year ahead of the fixed election date of Oct. 6 2020 and about a month before the federal election campaign.
