Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger’s mother dies

WINNIPEG – The mother of Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger has died.

Margaret Selinger, whose maiden name was Crawford, died early last week at the age of 85.

The premier has not commented publicly on his mother’s death and has been dealing with flooding in western Manitoba virtually around the clock.

Selinger has rarely talked about his private life, but paid tribute to his mother in a 2011 interview with The Canadian Press.

Selinger said his parents divorced when he was very young and his mother raised him while running a clothing store.

She later worked in office administration and real estate, and Selinger said his mother demonstrated the ability to meet challenges head-on.

“The strongest thing I drew from my mother was resiliency — the bounce, the ability to keep finding better ways to make a living,” Selinger said in the interview.