WINNIPEG - Manitoba’s finance minister is stepping down to run for a seat in the House of Commons, with work still underway on the province’s spring budget that will precede an election. Friesen said he will resign his legislature seat in the near future and seek the federal Conservative nomination in the riding of Portage-Lisgar. Friesen’s decision is the latest in a series of recent similar announcements by Progressive Conservative caucus members. Roughly one-third of the 36 caucus members elected in 2019 have either quit in the last two years or have said they are not running again in the election scheduled for Oct. 3. The optics of so many caucus members not running again amid low poll numbers is also not encouraging for the Tories, Thomas added.

Source: The Star January 28, 2023 06:14 UTC