Manitoba premier polling high after nine months, but experts say challenges lie ahead

Nine months after being elected, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew continues to enjoy a honeymoon with voters.

Nine months after being elected, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew continues to enjoy a honeymoon with voters.

His NDP government has enacted many promises the party made during last year's election campaign, and opposition parties are working to rebuild after losing leaders and legislature seats.

But challenges lie ahead, experts say, as the government tries to enact other pledges -- such as keeping grocery prices affordable -- and follow through on a fiscal plan that could require tight restraint.

"The government has been working to fulfil commitments it made during the election, (but) I would say affordability is something that in many ways is beyond the control of the provincial government," said Christopher Adams, adjunct professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba.

Recent opinion polls suggest NDP support has grown since the party took 34 of the 57 legislature seats in the Oct. 3 election.

The party also added a seat last month when it won a byelection in the Tuxedo constituency -- a high-income part of Winnipeg that had been a Progressive Conservative stronghold since its creation in 1979.

Kinew followed through on a promise to support a landfill search for the remains of two slain First Nations women. He also temporarily suspended the provincial fuel tax and boosted funding for school nutrition programs.