Wab Kinew, right, Manitoba NDP candidate for Fort Rouge, listens as Premier Greg Selinger speaks at a news conference in Winnipeg, Friday, March 11, 2016. Manitoba New Democrats are choosing a replacement for former premier Greg Selinger, who stepped down after the party lost last year's election to the Progressive Conservatives and saw 17 years in power come to an end.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
September 16, 2017 - 8:00 PM
WINNIPEG - Rookie politician and Indigenous author Wab Kinew is the new leader of the Manitoba NDP.
Party members elected Kinew as the province's official Opposition leader in a vote of 728 to 253.
Kinew, who is 35, went into the vote with majority support among delegates elected in the province's 57 constituencies who cast ballots at the leadership convention.
Kinew also faced controversy over domestic violence charges that were stayed by the Crown in 2004 and only recently revealed.
With his wife by his side, Kinew told delegates at the convention he is not the man he used to be.
This was Ashton's third run at the party leadership — the 61-year-old ran unsuccessfully for leader in 2009 and 2015 and lost his legislature seat in last year's election.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2017