WINNIPEG – A Manitoba cabinet minister says neither she nor any of her colleagues who have challenged Premier Greg Selinger about his leadership will resign.
Finance Minister Jennifer Howard says she will continue to work with the premier and remain in cabinet.
Howard is also dismissing speculation that she might side with other political parties.
She is one of five cabinet ministers who have suggested the premier consider resigning because of falling numbers in opinion polls.
Selinger has said he is staying on and has left the door open to demoting ministers who have questioned him.
READ MORE: Another NPDer says Premier Greg Selinger has to go
The NDP government is preparing for a new session of the legislature and an election is about 18 months away.
“I don’t plan to resign. None of us are planning to resign,” Howard said Thursday. “We all took an oath to serve Manitobans and we’re going to do that.”
Howard said she’s a committed New Democrat.
“I joined the party … in ’86 or ’87, which were troubling years for the NDP in Manitoba, and I stuck with it through the ups and downs. It’s because that is the party that represents my values and ideals — and it is still the party that represents my values and ideals.”
Health Minister Erin Selby, Justice Minister Andrew Swan and Municipal Government Minister Stan Struthers have all said Selinger has failed to persuade voters that raising the provincial sales tax last year to eight from seven per cent was the right thing to do. They called on him to consider stepping down.
Jobs Minister Theresa Oswald and Howard have been more measured in their criticism, but have urged Selinger to reflect on his future given the party’s standing in polls.
Other ministers are standing firmly behind him, although less than half his caucus were there Tuesday when he announced he wouldn’t be leaving.
The NDP government enjoyed strong public support from the time it took power in 1999 until last year, when it raised the provincial sales tax without a referendum that was required by law to do so. The government changed the law at the same time it increased the tax.
Recent opinion polls suggest NDP support has dropped to the low 30s, well behind the Opposition Progressive Conservatives.
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