Conservatives nominate former PC cabinet minister to seek federal office in Winnipeg South
Janice Morley-Lecomte to face Liberal Terry Duguid in election expected this year
A former Manitoba PC cabinet minister has won the Conservative nomination to run in the upcoming federal election in Winnipeg South.
Janice Morley-Lecomte will run for the federal Conservatives in the next federal election, said Melanie Maher, the president of the electoral district association for Winnipeg South.
This would pit the former MLA against Liberal cabinet minister Terry Duguid.
Between 2016 and 2023, Morley-Lecomte served two terms as the Progressive Conservative MLA for the Winnipeg constituency of Seine River, sitting in the PC caucus with former premiers Brian Pallister, Kelvin Goertzen and Heather Stefanson.
Morley-Lecomte also spent eight months in cabinet, serving as the Minister of Mental Health and Community Wellness in the short-lived Stefanson government.
The NDP's Billie Cross defeated Morley-Lecomte by 1,407 votes in the 2023 provincial election.
According to the Winnipeg South PC website, Morley-Lecomte was raised in the western Manitoba town of Ste. Rose du Lac, grew up on a cattle farm and spent most of her life working in Winnipeg in social services.
Conservative officials did not respond to requests on Monday to speak to Morley-Lecomte. She will attempt to unseat Liberal MP Duguid in an election expected as early as this spring.
Duguid, who served as a city councillor in Winnipeg from 1989 to 1995, was first elected as a Liberal MP in 2015. He was re-elected twice and was named to cabinet in December, only weeks before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his intention to resign.
Duguid said he finds it interesting Morley-Lecomte won the Conservative given the fate of the Progressive Conservative Party in 2023, when most of its Winnipeg candidates lost their seats.
"Manitobans were pretty clear about the previous Manitoba Conservative government in showing them the door," said Duguid, claiming Morley-Lecomte will have to defend her former government's record on health care and its pandemic response.
Duguid faces a formidable challenge of his own. Not only is his Liberal Party polling far behind the Conservatives, his riding is a perfect example of a swing seat: In every election since 1988, the winning party also won Winnipeg South.
"Winnipeg South has always been a a competitive riding and I take nothing for granted," Duguid said. "It's a fast-growing, multicultural, prosperous, educated riding and I've gotten to know so many families. I think they appreciate the work that I've done."