Gloria Kelly
Dr. Doug Eyolfson
Message from the Co-Chairs
Dear Friends and Fellow Liberals,
We would like to welcome you to the 2022 Liberal Party of Canada - Manitoba Convention and the Manitoba Liberal Party Annual General Meeting.
It has been some time some time since we have been able to come together in public and we thank each and every one of you for joining us for these meetings. The past two years have been trying times, challenging times but also interesting times to be Liberals in Manitoba.
Federally we held onto our seats in Manitoba in the fall 2021 election and we did make gains in some of the ridings that we will build upon moving forward.
Provincially we are heading into a general election in the fall of 2023 and we know we can build on the momentum from this spring’s by-election where we came so close to overturning what was supposed to be the safest Tory seat in Manitoba. That gives us hope and drive as we work towards increasing both our seat count and our percentage of the popular vote in October 2023.
Our success going forward both provincially and federally will very much depend on working together with passion and vigour toward a common goal. We must work collectively to make our message heard. We must work together to be a beacon of hope and reason in a political landscape where our opposition often seems to forget who it is they were elected to serve - the people of this great province and country.
Your support is critical as we move towards the 2023 fall provincial election with positive outcomes on the horizon and work to make gains in the next federal vote. Our ability to move forward, to deliver a positive, unified message, depends on all of us working together as a team.
We are honoured to be co-hosting these 2022 meetings. We sincerely hope that events this weekend will help you feel like you are a capable, confident member of this team, with renewed energy striving to be the political choice in Manitoba.
Gloria Kelly
Doug Eyolfson
Message from the Leader
Leader’s Message 2022
With pandemics, war, crises and floods, the last year has seen more than it’s fair share of excitement.
Thank you to everyone who has worked to protect and care for each other - and to everyone who suffered losses, our hearts are with you.
I want to express my gratitude to everyone who has worked so hard in the last months to build the Manitoba Liberal Party.
We had an extraordinary year of extraordinary challenges.
Inside the legislature and out, we have been fighting tooth and nail for Manitobans across the province - and we have delivered. Manitoba Liberals were the first to launch the campaign against Bill 64. We were the first to call for Sept 30 to be a provincial day commemorating Residential Schools.
In the legislature - with your support and advice, we stopped bad PC policies, and we helped make good things happen.
We also achieved something incredible in the Fort Whyte by-election, with Willard Reaves as our candidate.
This supposedly safe “PC stronghold" seat was only in play because Manitoba Liberals made it competitive. No one believed we could come close to winning in Fort Whyte.
We were the only party to increase our vote share from 2019 - by an incredible +21.8%.
The PCs share of the vote dropped, by -15%. The NDP trailed a distant third, getting just 15.2%. They actually lost ground, dropping -2.7%.
We sent a clear and undeniable message to the other parties, to media and to Manitobans: we are a viable option for taking on and beating the PCs and the NDP alike in the 2023 election.
Not just in Fort Whyte.
We need to take the right lessons from Fort Whyte, and apply them
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Nominate great candidates. (We are already doing that).
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Remember that campaigns matter. Reaching out to people, face-to-face, makes the difference. It changes minds. It wins support and votes.
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Knock on doors, knock on doors, knock on doors, and start months before the election is actually called.
We are better organized that we have been in years.
Whether you are a candidate, a volunteer, or a donor, your efforts to support Manitoba Liberal Candidates has the power to make change in this province - historic change.
What makes us different, as Manitoba Liberals from the PCs and the NDP?
Why is that things don’t seem to change, no matter who gets elected?
Fundamentally, it’s this:
The PCs and NDP both thrive from division in our province.
Left vs right. Government vs private sector. Rural vs. Urban. North vs South. Labour vs business.
We don’t see the divisions in our province the same way.
We see that people are defined, not by groups or ideology, but by our shared humanity.
We can recognize difference without emphasizing division.
Because at the end of the day, we are all Manitobans, and what we have in common is more important than what sets us apart.
And know that as a Manitoba Liberal, you have the power to make change in this province.
Thank you for your engagement - and spread the word.
Dougald Lamont
Leader, Manitoba Liberal Party
