Federal NDP candidate Leila Dance won Monday’s byelection in Elmwood—Transcona by a margin of 1,158 votes to become member of Parliament, preliminary final results show.
Elections Canada’s unofficial tally showed 13,606 votes (48.1 per cent) were cast in favour of Dance, as the NDP held onto its east Winnipeg stronghold with a much slimmer margin of victory than the 2021 general election.
Conservative party candidate Colin Reynolds finished second with 12,448 votes (44 per cent) despite shunning the media and holding no public events during the campaign.
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS
Leila Dance celebrates with family as she wins the Elmwood-Transcona by-election Monday.
Liberal candidate Ian MacIntyre was in third place, with 1,360 votes (4.8 per cent), followed by the Green Party’s Nicolas Geddert (366, 1.3 per cent).
People’s Party of Canada candidate Sarah Couture (349, 1.2 per cent) and the Canada Future Party’s Zbig Strycharz (132, 0.5 per cent) were fifth and sixth, respectively.
Elections Canada said 28,261 of 72,325 registered voters cast a ballot, resulting in a voter turnout of 39 per cent. The preliminary total does not include voters who registered on election day.
Elmwood—Transcona had a voter turnout of 59.6 per cent in 2021, when former NDP MP Daniel Blaikie defeated Tory candidate Rejeanne Caron by more than 9,000 votes.
Monday’s byelection was called after Blaikie resigned to take an adviser role with Manitoba’s NDP government.
fpcity@freepress.mb.ca