Our great "free media" here in the United States has refused to cover the Manitoba Election.
Today, for a third consecutive time, Gary Doer--- a worker, a socialist, a peace advocate, a human rights activist, and a trade unionist--- was re-elected as Premier of Manitoba Canada.
Over the years Manitobans have consistently elected, and re-elected, socialists and communists to public office.
American big-business and banking conducted an expensive campaign trying to defeat Doer and the NDP, but to no avail... workers know a good government when they experience steady improvements in their lives.
Progressives here in the United States could learn a great deal from Gary Doer and the socialist New Democratic Party of Manitoba.
This is the way the Winnipeg Free Press covered the NDP victory.
NDP wins majority
Winnipeg Free Press
Tue May 22 2007
By Bartley Kives, Mary Agnes Welch, Mia Rabson and David Kuxhaus
It’s a threepeat for Gary Doer and the New Democratic Party, who’ve become the first government to win three straight majorities since the Duff Roblin-led Progressive Conservatives in the 1960s.
Less than an hour after the polls closed, the NDP are leading or elected in 35 seats, with the Tories and Liberals trailing behind with 16 and two, respectively.
NDP headquarters just went crazy as the party's two biggest hopes for election -- Sharon Blady in Kirkfield Park and Erin Selby in Southdale -- were both declared elected.
The NDP have never won in either riding. Kirkfield Park has been held by prominent Tories, including most recently former Tory leader Stuart Murray.
Jack Reimer, defeated in Southdale, has been the MLA for that riding since 1990.
Cheers also went up from the NDP crowd when six cabinet ministers were declared re-elected, including five in potential swing ridings such as Seine River and Gimli.
Campaign advisor Donne Flanagan said there was guarded optimism about both ridings.
“We're really happy,” he said.
Premier Gary Doer was handily re-elected in Concordia and the NDP are even leading in the west Winnipeg riding of Kirkfield Park, a former Tory stronghold.
Flanagan said while some pundits had heavyweghts such as Health Minister Theresa Oswald in Seine River and Peter Bjornson on the list of ridings to watch, the party always felt they would be fine.
He said the strength of those campaigns and those candidates allowed the party to focus its energies elsewhere.
“It gave us the ability to focus on ridings we could pick up like Kirkfield Park and Southdale,” said Flanagan.
At PC headquarters, the mood was subdued as it became clear that the Tories had failed to break through the NDP's grip on the province.
All eyeballs were jumping between two network newscasts blown up on big screens.
But surprise is greeting the horse race in Interlake, where Tory Garry Wasylowski is nipping at the NDP incumbent’s heels.
Wellington incumbent Conrad Santos — an independent candidate — is currently in fifth and final place in a field of five.
He and Joe Chan, another independent, were disallowed from running for the NDP, paving the way for Flor Marcellino to hold on to the seat for the NDP.