As if working at an overrun hospital emergency room wasn’t challenging enough, a Winnipeg doctor will run in the next federal election for the Liberals, whose unpopular leader is politically doomed, pollsters say.
Former MP and Grace Hospital emergency physician Dr. Doug Eyolfson said both jobs are demanding and rewarding, and that he wouldn’t run again if he didn’t think he could win the redistributed riding that will be known as Winnipeg West in the election that will take place by Oct. 20.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES
Former MP and Grace Hospital emergency physician Dr. Doug Eyolfson plans to run in the next federal election for the Liberals.
“To say I’m a glutton for punishment makes it sound like I didn’t enjoy it,” Eyolfson, who served as the MP for Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley from 2015 to 2019, told the Free Press Thursday following a New Year’s Day shift at Grace that ended at midnight.
He said he worked longer hours as a parliamentarian and it was “a very substantial pay cut.”
“I enjoyed it. I was very proud of the number of things that we could accomplish and there’s much more to be done,” he said.
In November, he accepted the Liberal party nomination for the riding held by Conservative Marty Morantz since he defeated Eyolfson by 2,417 votes in 2019. In the 2021 election, Morantz bettered him by just 460 votes.
Morantz did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Eyolfson — who nearly died and underwent emergency heart surgery two years ago — said there’s too much at stake to not run again.
“I know there’s a lot of challenges with the state of the party,” he said, as calls from the Liberal caucus for leader and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to resign grow louder.
“I enjoyed it. I was very proud of the number of things that we could accomplish and there’s much more to be done.”–Dr. Doug Eyolfson
Local and national polls show the Liberals are lagging far behind the Pierre Poilievre-led Conservatives. And the list of Liberal MPs not seeking re-election grew Thursday when former cabinet minister Marco Mendicino announced he won’t be running.
“There’s a lot of very worthwhile things that we accomplished that are at stake and I can’t just sit by and let all of that work be undone,” Eyolfson, said, pointing to the Canada Child Benefit, a national child-care program and pharmacare plan.
“A lot of our initiatives have helped a lot of very vulnerable people and I think a lot of those are at risk with a change of government. I would not feel good just sitting back and saying, ‘I’m just going to be comfortable doing what I do and let these changes affect someone else.’
“It’s something I feel — for a lack of better word — obligated to do.”
The new Winnipeg West riding expansion into old Tuxedo may help him, he said. In a byelection last year, the provincial NDP won Tuxedo, which had been considered a “safe” Progressive Conservative seat.
“There are a lot of people who vote NDP provincially who may vote Liberal federally,” said Eyolfson.
He said Manitobans remember the previous Progressive Conservative provincial government’s handling of health care and the party’s “hateful campaign” promise to not search an area landfill for the remains of two Indigenous women who were the victims of a serial killer.
“The Conservative brand is somewhat damaged with Manitobans.”
One political analyst said it will be tough for Eyolfson and the Liberals to win seats when their party and its leader are polling so far behind the Conservatives.
“It’s not a zero per cent chance of him taking that riding, but I’d say right now he’s got a tough row to hoe,” said University of Manitoba adjunct political studies professor Christopher Adams.
People typically vote because of a leader, a party or the local candidate, and neither Eyolfson’s leader nor his party are popular, he said.
“Sometimes the local candidate makes the difference,” said Adams, who recalled the vote count in the riding in 2021 being so close that a recount was required.
“If there’s anybody to get that seat back into the Liberal fold, I guess he would be the person, with his community connections and his commitment to health care. But right now, he’s swimming up against the current.”
However, political currents can change, Adams said.
“Everybody is assuming whether (Trudeau) runs again or not, that Poilievre is going to win,” he said. “A lot of things can happen in the meantime: the Liberals might have a new leader, or Poilievre does something that suddenly alienates a lot of Canadians.”
Whatever happens, Eyolfson said he’s in it to win it.
“My time is pretty valuable. I don’t want to spend it on a hopeless endeavour,” he said.
Liberal MP for Winnipeg South and federal Sport Minister Terry Duguid pointed to the 2021 election, when Eyolfson came within less than 500 votes of winning back the seat from Morantz.
“Doug is a phenomenal candidate with incredible knowledge of our health-care system.… It is our hope he is re-elected to serve his constituents once more,” Duguid said Thursday.
— With files from Kevin Rollason, Canadian Press
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter
Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.
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