Kirkfield Park byelection candidates push hard into last days of campaign

Voters in Kirkfield Park head to the polls Tuesday.

In an electoral district that’s primarily been held by the Progressive Conservatives, Manitoba’s opposition parties are pulling out all the stops to swing Kirkfield Park another direction.

Voters of the west Winnipeg riding will again have a voice representing them at the Manitoba Legislature after polls close Tuesday.

The PCs have dominated Kirkfield Park since its creation more than 50 years ago, except from 2007 to 2016 when the New Democrats occupied the seat.

The incumbent PCs have selected former Winnipeg city councillor Kevin Klein to replace cabinet minister Scott Fielding, who stepped down in June. Klein faces stiff competition from correctional officer Logan Oxenham with the NDP and longtime nurse Rhonda Nichol with the Liberals.

Information technology specialist Dennis Bayomi is the Green Party’s pick.

The Tories have some ground to make up in the next provincial election scheduled for October 2023, pollster Mary Agnes Welch with Probe Research said Thursday.

Premier Heather Stefanson ranked last again among Canada’s provincial leaders in a recent Angus Reid poll, and the Conservatives trailed second behind the NDP in a Probe Research poll this fall.

“The popularity of the Tories has been really stable and really low for a really long time, and I think it’s pretty tricky to … pull those numbers out over the next year,” Welch told 680 CJOB’s The News.