Heather Stefanson has a full schedule ahead of her as she prepares to move into the Manitoba prime minister’s office.
After a narrow victory over rival Shelly Glover over the weekend for the leadership of the ruling progressive conservatives, Stefanson will soon be sworn in and become the province’s first female premier.
Glover has said he can challenge the result because many party members did not receive the ballots in the mail in time to cast their votes.
Stefanson must assemble a cabinet and decide whether to reconvene the legislature as scheduled for November 16.
She says it’s a tight time frame to deliver a speech on the throne that sets the government’s agenda, but it could be doable given her years of experience in the legislature.
Stefanson must also decide when to call an election to fill the seat of former prime minister Brian Pallister, and on Saturday he was evasive when asked if he wanted Glover to run there.
“If Shelly wants to run, there will be a nomination and I think others can run as well and I’m not sure,” Stefanson told reporters after his victory speech.
“This is a democratic process and we will follow it within the party.”
Glover, a former member of Parliament who left Ottawa in 2015, does not have a seat in the legislature. He said he would discuss the idea of running in a free election with his team on Saturday.
Stefanson seemed more enthusiastic when asked if Obby Khan, a business owner and former Winnipeg Blue Bomber, could pursue Tory’s nomination in Pallister’s old Fort Whyte cavalcade.
Khan has not announced any plans to run in the by-election, but he drew attention with public support for Stefanson’s leadership bid that included a testimonial video.
“He is a great Manitoban and I wish him the best if he decides to seek the nomination there,” he said.
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Stefanson, who has held a variety of cabinet posts, takes over from the Conservatives at a time when the party has sunk in opinion polls and is two years away from the next election.
The government has been criticized for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. During Stefanson’s short time as Minister of Health, dozens of patients were flown to other provinces due to a shortage of intensive care beds.
He also supported a controversial plan to reform the education system and eliminate elected school boards. He promised to scrap the plan when he launched his leadership offer in August, and acting Conservative leader Kelvin Goertzen did so in early October.
The New Opposition Democrats have already launched online ads calling Stefanson “a bad reprise” of Pallister.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
Reference-globalnews.ca