5 Manitoba takeaways from the 2021 federal election

While the election nobody seemed to want ended without much in the way of change, there are plenty of lessons for Canada's major federalist parties.

Chief among them: Don't try to foist political change on people while they're struggling to adapt to personal challenges.

Don't threaten to throw out gun legislation in Quebec. Don't throw gravel at anyone. Don't throw your own leaders under the bus.

Here in Manitoba, where change was even more miniscule than in some other regions, there are some micro-lessons parties can take away from 2021:

There was a lot of speculation in Churchill-Keewatinook Aski that longtime NDP MP Niki Ashton would be defeated this year if Indigenous voters — the majority in the riding — chose to select one of their own.

Indigenous candidates did receive the most votes on Monday — yet Ashton remains the member of Parliament for a riding she first won in 2008, after the Indigenous vote didn't coalesce around a single candidate.

Together, three Indigenous candidates — Conservative Charlotte Larocque, Liberal Shirley Robinson and Green Ralph McLean — amassed more support than Ashton.