Tom Lindsey is happy to be back in the legislature, although Flin Flon’s MLA has reservations about whether the previous election was actually necessary.
“(This term) feels suspiciously like the last term,” he said.
Lindsey had strong words against the Progressive Conservative (PC) government, accusing them of calling an election before the effects of cuts could be felt.
“The result was status quo election, simply because (Pallister) thought he got a few more years before everything goes really bad,” Lindsey said
“In Flin Flon, we know that things have already gone really bad.”
“We'll start to see just where [Pallister] is going with education and things like that,” he said.
The NDP slightly strengthened its position as official opposition, especially making gains in the north.
“When I talked to people in the northern communities - Cross Lake and Norway House - they were against everything that this Pallister government proposed,” Lindsey said.
“Health care, things like the Northern Patient Transportation Program, privatizing LifeFlight and potentially privatizing airports. It's the same in all four northern constituencies. We have more in common with each other in our communities than we sometimes think we do.”
Lindsey also detailed what his portfolio will look like as part of an expanded NDP caucus.
He said he’ll be the northern and labour critic, working closely with new MLAs Ian Bushie and Jamie Moses.
“I share some of the duties with Ian Bushie for Indigenous and Northern Affairs,” Lindsey said.
“He looks after the Indigenous part, I look after the northern part... We’re going to work very well together on that. The labour portfolio, of course, is always a big one, even though with this government it’s buried in Growth, Enterprise and Trade. I'm sure they're not done with things they're planning to do against working people. That'll be another big one.”
NDP MLA Jamie Moses is part of an influx of MLAs of colour. Before 2019, no black person had ever been elected as a Manitoba MLA. Now, three black candidates were elected to provincial government – Moses and Uzoma Asagwara for the NDP and the PCs’ Audrey Gordon. MLAs with backgrounds from India and the Philippines were also elected, along with a higher-than-ever number of Indigenous MLAs.
“It's a very diverse caucus, even more so than last time,” Lindsey said.
“There's a lot of new perspectives sitting around our table, which is good. Our caucus should represent the people that we represent.”
