Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 30, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba DONATE This ad generously supported by Cambrian Credit Union Saturday, MAY 10, 2025 Blue Cross Park, Winnipeg Like your gift supports our Members with accessibility, mobility and freedom in the community! supportcerebralpalsy.ca DONATE TODAY at – PROTECT THE SACRED – 5TH ANNUAL MMIWG2S+ WALK FOR JUSTICE MAY 5, 2025 5:30 P.M. OODENA CELEBRATION CIRCLE We are inviting you to join us at the Oodena Celebration Circle where we will hear from families and survivors of MMIWG2S+. We encourage all Peoples to attend. Indigenous and Allies together. This will be a family-friendly event and all will be accepted in this space who are there to support, love and stand with our communities A prayer walk will follow from the Oodena Celebration Circle to the Memorial Blvd Park where we will spend time drumming, singing and dancing in honour of our stolen Sisters, Mothers, Aunties, Grandmother's, Nieces, Daughters and Granddaughters. Round Dance to follow the walk. On May 5 we commemorate Red Dress Day, a solemn occasion to raise awareness of the devastating epidemic of violence against Indigenous Women, Girls, 2 Spirit and all Gender Diverse people. SERVING MANITOBA SINCE 1872 PROUDLY CANADIAN WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2025 WEATHER CLOUDY, SHOWERS. HIGH 17 — LOW 3 JETS VILARDI RETURNING FROM INJURY FOR GAME 5 / D1 Liberal victory just short of majority O TTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney will lead a minority gov- ernment after a very close gener- al election race that left the Liberals just three seats shy of a majority. Just before 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Elections Canada showed the Liberals projected to win 169 ridings after flip- ping one riding in Quebec from the Bloc Québécois earlier in the day. The Conservatives won 144 seats and will form the official Opposition again. The Bloc Québécois followed with 22 seats, the NDP with seven projected seats and the Green Party with one seat. The projected results landed nearly 24 hours after the first polls closed on Monday. Elections Canada decided early Tuesday to pause the marathon count- ing of special ballots with a handful of ridings still too close to call. Special ballots are cast by mail or at Elections Canada offices by voters who are away from their ridings during the election. One of those outstanding seats was the Ottawa riding previously held by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. The Canadian Press decision desk now projects Liberal Bruce Fanjoy has won the seat. Recounts in some ridings are expected. With a minority, the Liberals will again need help from other parties’ MPs to pursue their agenda. In his victory speech, Carney pledged to unite a divided country in the face of ongoing tensions with the United States. He promised to lead a government that represents all Canadians. “Let’s put an end to the division and anger of the past,” he said. “We are all Canadian, and my government will work for and with everyone.” That promise will be put to the test quickly. The PMO’s account of a phone call Tuesday between him and the U.S. president said Donald Trump congrat- ulated Carney on his election victory. CRAIG LORD CHRIS KITCHING THE NDP stumbled to its worst result in Manitoba in 32 years — losing two strongholds and narrowly retaining its only other seat — as Liberal and Conservative candidates benefited from the party’s collapse in Monday’s federal election. Leah Gazan, re-elected in Winnipeg Centre, will be the NDP’s only Manito- ba MP after incumbents Leila Dance (Elmwood-Transcona) and Niki Ashton (Churchill-Keewatinook Aski) were upset by Tory and Liberal candidates, respectively. “We lost a lot of good people here in Manitoba,” Gazan said Tuesday, when the New Democrats were projected to hold seven of Canada’s 343 seats, down from 24 when the election was called March 23. Support for the NDP plummeted to single percentage points in some Mani- toba ridings. The last time the party won only one Manitoba seat was the 1993 election amid a Liberal landslide. The NDP then won four of Manitoba’s 14 seats in 1997. It will need to undergo an overhaul after placing fourth behind the project- ed Liberal minority government, the Tories and the Bloc Québécois. Gazan did not indicate if there is a potential candidate she supports to replace Jagmeet Singh as leader. She believes the U.S. political situation, including President Donald Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, swayed voters away from her party. “I think what’s going on down south impacted the other two NDP seats,” she said, referring to the strongholds that were lost. “It impacted my riding.” Three seats changed hands in Man- itoba. The Conservatives won seven, gaining Elmwood-Transcona but losing Winnipeg West, where incumbent Mar- ty Morantz was defeated by Liberal Doug Eyolfson. The Liberals won six seats, a gain of two. Before the campaign, the Tories had seven seats, the Liberals had four and the NDP had three. The federal standing is in contrast to provincial politics, in which the NDP has a majority government. Before the election, some observers thought an NDP collapse would help the Liberals the most. The Tories bene- fited as well. Local Filipinos mourn Vancouver attack victims Carney, Trump talk on day after election win, agree to meet in near future ● NDP, CONTINUED ON A3 ● CARNEY, CONTINUED ON A2 ● MORE ELECTION / A2, A3, A4, A6 Last NDP MP in Manitoba blames Trump threats for party’s collapse ‘We lost a lot of good people here’: Gazan A VIOLINIST played Amazing Grace as people joined a Winnipeg vigil to honour the people who were killed and injured when a suspect drove into a crowd at a Filipino festival in Vancouver Saturday. More than 200 people attended the remem- brance ceremony at the Philippine Canadian Centre of Manitoba on Keewatin Street Tuesday evening. The local Filipino community wanted to gather to share their sorrow. “Our bloodline knows hurt. Our bloodline has seen violence before,” New Democrat MLA Jelynn Dela Cruz told the mourners. She noted that the block party was named after Lapu Lapu, a 16th century Filipino chief. “(He) was a living example of what it means to be Filipino. Not only (is) that resilience woven into the fabric of who we are, but that relentlessness.” Winnipeg has the largest Filipino population of any major Canadian city, Dela Cruz added. “We are a relentless people and we will get through this,” she said. Eleven people were killed and dozens were seriously injured after the suspect in an SUV ran down people at the block party. Police said the accused, 30-year-old Kai-ji Adam Lo, has a history of mental-health interac- tions with law enforcement. He has been charged with multiple offences. Shahina Siddiqui, an educator and activist, de- livered greetings on behalf of Winnipeg’s Muslim community. “It’s a difficult time, but a time when Manitoba shows up and stands up with each other,” she said. “Our faiths don’t divide us, they should bring us together. We are one humanity and we (must) stand together not only in good times but in chal- lenging times like this.” ● VIGIL, CONTINUED ON A5 AARON EPP JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS People place flowers at a memorial vigil at the Philippine Canadian Centre of Manitoba Tuesday night to honour those killed at a Filipino festival in Vancouver Saturday. ;