It's been a fierce race between the three candidates vying for the position of MLA for the Spruce Woods Riding in this byelection over the past few months. It all came to a head Tuesday evening when PC candidate, Colleen Robbins, was running neck and neck with NDP candidate Ray Berthelette as soon as polls closed and reports started pouring in.
According to the unofficial results from Elections Manitoba, Robbins secured her win with a 70-vote lead, with the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba holding on to the Spruce Woods Riding. She follows in the footsteps of Grant Jackson who stepped down from his position as MLA of Spruce Woods upon seeking federal office for Brandon-Souris. Robbins received 2,805 votes, Bertheltte 2,735 and Liberal candidate Stephen Reid had 444. Voter turnout was 40.71%.
Born in Deloraine, Colleen Robbins has long called the close-knit community of Souris her home. Robbins is a nurse by profession. She has served as President of the Souris Chamber of Commerce, where she became an advocate for small business and rural economic development.
Robbins is a lifelong Conservative volunteer, and her volunteer work continues on numerous boards and organizations, including Manitoba Crime Stoppers, and To the Stan and Back (shortened for Afghanistan), a charity devoted to supporting veterans and frontline personnel living with PTSD.
A tight race right to the end
Upon securing her position as MLA for the Spruce Woods Riding, Robbins shared her thoughts on this significant win during an interview Tuesday night.
"I am just excited, and I am so happy the people of Spruce Woods put their trust in me, and I know Wab Kinew tried to buy this and manipulate the time of this election. Well, it didn't work and I won," says Robbins. "So, I am gonna' go out smiling tonight, and I look so forward to serving the people of Spruce Woods. I'll be there to listen here and take their concerns back to the Leg. I'll never forget them."
"Getting out there, meeting all the different people hearing the stories, I loved every bit of it!"
Just over 40 % of the 14,757 registered voters cast their ballot, with 2,805 voting PC's in the unofficial results from Tuesday night. Ray Berthelette wasn't far behind with 2,735 votes (again in the unofficial results). That meant 8,749 voters did not cast their ballot in this by-election.
Robbins says her team did their best to get as many people to the polls as possible on election day, but Westman is in the midst of harvest season, and she felt many families were still enjoying their last week of summer holidays before school started.
"There was lots of hard work getting our voters out today," she explains. "We had people in every community making sure everyone got out to vote that we could get out to vote. It's a hard time of the year. We got farmers in the field. We have people still in holidays as one week left till school. So yeah, it was really tough."
"There were lots of people that were away through these whole advance polls who I know would have been voting for me. But you know what? It was just all down to not giving up to the last minute."
The role of MLA is a service
When it comes to representing her residents and businesses, Robbins says her constituents can expect she will listen and do her best to help them in any situation. "But I'll never ever make a promise I cannot keep," she adds. "That's one thing I will hold everyone to."
"And this role to me is a service," notes Robbins. "It's not power. It's a service to the people that got me here and I will be there for them all the way."
When asked what her message was to the voters who did not vote for her and the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba, Robbins says it doesn't matter to her who someone voted for.
"You're all my constituents. I'll be there for everybody in every community. It doesn't matter who you voted for. I'm there for everyone," says Robbins.
Promises were made. Will they stand?
Prior to the election, the NDP government made numerous announcements on significant funding in the Spruce Woods Riding including the following.
- $19.7 million for the Oak Lake Dam revitalization project (July 8),
- Spruce Woods Housing Co-op $500,000 (July 10th),
- $95,000 for the Oak Lake aeration project (July 11),
- $2 million for upgrades at Spruce Woods Provincial Park (announced July 18th),
- funding for road improvements on PTH 5 and PTH 34 (July 14) and
- $115 million for Glenboro PTH 2 (July 25).
Robbins says she's going to hold the Province to what they've promised for her riding.
"I'm going to hold them to account for it, and they better because they made those," says Robbins, "and even Wab broke the law in making one just a week or so ago, and I'm going to hold them account for each and every one of them and make sure, and get Spruce Woods behind me all the way to make sure they happen."
Referencing Premier Wab Kinew making a funding announcement during the election blackout period, the Progressive Conservatives filed a complaint with Manitoba’s Commissioner of Elections August 22nd against the Premier and the NDP after making what the PC's described as a new government promise during the Spruce Woods byelection blackout period.
According to a news release issued by the PC Party of Manitoba, the complaint stems from a social media post made by the premier on August 21st. Standing on a section of Highway 2 in the Spruce Woods constituency, the premier says, “And now we’re announcing also that stretch form Souris to Deleau is gonna get fixed thanks to our candidate Ray Berthelette.” He goes on to say, “So on August 26th when you choose the road ahead here in Spruce Woods, please lend Ray your vote.”
