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Manitoba became the first province in Canada to elect a government headed by a First Nations member on Tuesday, as broadcasters predicted a win for the left-of-center New Democratic Party, led by Wab Kinew, who is Anishinaabe.<\/p>\n
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation projected late Tuesday night that Mr. Kinew\u2019s party had won a majority of seats in the provincial legislature and would form a government, dislodging the Progressive Conservatives from power after seven years and ousting Heather Stefanson from the premier\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kinew, 41, will also be Manitoba\u2019s first Indigenous political leader in 145 years. The province had a premier of M\u00e9tis heritage in the 1870s; M\u00e9tis people are Indigenous, but not First Nations members.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was given a second chance in life,\u201d Mr. Kinew said during his victory speech, referring to his past problems with addiction. \u201cAnd I would like to think that I have made good on that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Several of Canada\u2019s most prominent Indigenous public and political figures have come from Manitoba, and its capital, Winnipeg, has the largest Indigenous population of any Canadian city. During the campaign, Mr. Kinew rarely emphasized Indigenous issues, focusing largely on broader concerns, like access to health care.<\/p>\n
Several political analysts said Mr. Kinew\u2019s victory depended, in part, on moderate Progressive Conservatives\u2019 fears that their party was shifting too far to the right under Ms. Stefanson. She argued during the campaign that Manitoba should be exempted from the federal carbon tax, a keystone of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u2019s climate program.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kinew, who has been a CBC television host, a journalist and a rap artist, also had to address episodes from his past, including criminal charges, after facing attack ads from the Progressive Conservatives, as well as third-party groups.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kinew, who has acknowledged that as a young man he struggled with addictions, was convicted in 2003 of impaired driving, and in 2004 of assaulting a taxi driver. He eventually was granted a record suspension, effectively a pardon, for both convictions.<\/p>\n
One conservative political group sent a text to voters \u201creminding everyone who loves Manitoba to avoid electing Wab Kinew (a convicted criminal) and the N.D.P. this fall.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
After Mr. Kinew became leader of the New Democrats in 2017, it emerged that he had also briefly faced two charges in 2003 for assaulting his girlfriend at the time. A few months after those charges were brought, prosectors decided not to proceed with them, and Mr. Kinew has strongly denied the assault allegations.<\/p>\n
In August, Mr. Kinew said that the Conservatives and their supporters \u201cthink I\u2019m running from my past, but actually, my past is the reason I\u2019m running.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cIf we as individuals can find a way to walk a better road, then our province can do it, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Conservatives\u2019 campaign was the first led by Ms. Stefanson, who became premier after being selected as the party\u2019s leader in 2021. That internal vote was unusually divisive, with one of her rivals unsuccessfully challenging the result in court<\/a>.<\/p>\n As party leader and premier, Ms. Stefanson, who has spent most of her career in politics, succeeded Brian Pallister. He was known for running the province, which has bitterly cold winters, for weeks on end from Costa Rica and working through faxes because he disliked email.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Kinew, who projects a folksy style, was able to cast himself as an everyman and his opponent as an out-of-touch patrician. In the legislature, Ms. Stefanson represents an affluent part of Winnipeg known as Tuxedo. Last year, she apologized for failing to disclose real estate sales totaling 31 million Canadian dollars, or $23 million, by a holding company in which she is a director and shareholder.<\/p>\n An issue that resonated with Indigenous voters became the focus of the campaign in its final days. The Conservative government had refused to allow a forensic search of a privately owned landfill where the police believe the remains of two Indigenous women were placed by a man facing four first-degree murder charges, including the killings of the two women. The partial remains of one victim had been recovered from another landfill.<\/p>\n Indigenous people across Canada have been calling for the search, but on a billboard and in newspaper ads, the Conservatives repeated their opposition to one, arguing that it would be dangerous for workers and unlikely to find any remains. The tactic sparked an angry backlash from many Indigenous people.<\/p>\n Speaking with reporters on Monday, Ms. Stefanson defended her rejection of a search.<\/p>\n \u201cIn this role as premier, you have to make those difficult decisions,\u201d she said. \u201cWe believe that Manitobans need to be informed about where the various political parties stand on this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n The New Democrats and Manitoba\u2019s branch of Canada\u2019s governing Liberal Party both support a search. The federal government has said that it cannot act without the provincial government\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Manitoba\u2019s first Indigenous premier, John Norquay,<\/a> who was of M\u00e9tis heritage, assumed the office in 1878 because of a retirement, then led his government to victory in an election later that year. The province did not formally have political parties then.<\/p>\n Several years earlier, before Manitoba was formed as a province, another M\u00e9tis leader, Louis Riel, spearheaded a largely M\u00e9tis resistance movement that led to the formation of a provisional government, which he headed and which Canada viewed as illegal. Following many setbacks and an armed struggle further west, Mr. Riel was convicted of high treason<\/a> and hanged.<\/p>\n Ms. Stefanson, the first woman to become premier in Manitoba, said in her concession speech that she will resign as the Progressive Conservative leader. She also noted the historic nature of Mr. Kinew\u2019s move into the premier\u2019s office.<\/p>\n \u201cWab, I hope that your win tonight inspires a future generation of Indigenous youth to get involved in our democratic process \u2014 not just here in Manitoba, but right across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n