WINNIPEG – Theresa Oswald will challenge Greg Selinger for the leadership of the provincial NDP, and the Manitoba premier’s office that comes with it.
Sources close to the former Manitoba health minister confirmed to Global News that she will submit her nomination papers for the party leadership race Friday.
She’s expected to speak with reporters Friday morning at 10:30 and make a formal campaign launch at an event Sunday.
“The feedback I am getting is encouraging,” Oswald told Global News earlier Thursday when asked about the possibility of entering the race.
Oswald is one of five former Selinger cabinet ministers who openly challenged the premier’s leadership this fall, suggesting he step down to allow the NDP to recover some popularity under a new leader. She’s long been considered the most likely of the five to challenge Selinger for the leadership of the party that’s ruled Manitoba since 1999.
Selinger, in an interview with Canadian Press Wednesday, said he is determined to hold on to his job despite plummeting poll numbers and the defections of staff members to Oswald’s camp.
Global news confirmed Thursday a number of Selinger’s communication staffers have taken leaves of absence to work on Oswald’s campaign.
Oswald, Selinger and anyone else who wants to compete for the NDP leadership must submit nomination papers signed by 50 party members and pay a $2000 fee. The NDP will hold its leadership vote at the party convention that had already been set for March 6, 2015.
Infrastructure minister Steve Ashton, who ran against Selinger in the Manitoba NDP’s 2009 leadership race and lost, is also considered a possibility to run again.
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