Heather Spefanson was sworn in as Manitoba’s 24th premier earlier today, November 2, 2021. She is the first female premier in the history of the province.
“I stand before you today as Manitoba’s 24th premier. This was something that was once unthinkable,” said Stefanson. “I reflect on the many people who paved the way to make this possible and I promise that our government will embrace their values of equality, inclusivity and understanding.”
Stefanson won the PC party leadership race on Saturday, October 30, 2021, by 363 votes over Shelly Glover.
While the new premier was preparing to take the oath of office, Glover’s legal team was across the street at the Manitoba Law Courts filing a challenge to the outcome of the leadership race and asking the courts to quash the results.
As part of her filing, a number of affidavits were included including one from former Winnipeg police officer Kevin Cook. Cook was working as a scrutineer for Glover and alleges that he witnessed men remove ballot boxes through a side door in the hotel’s ballroom under the supervision of PC party president Tom Wiebe. Cook also noted that prior to the ballot boxes being removed it was his belief that Glover was ahead in the count by 500 votes.
In an affidavit filed by Glover, she states that she was told several hours prior to the official announcement of the winner that there were 16,045 ballots in total but when the announcement was made that number jumped to 16,546.
In a statement to the media the PC party confirmed that they have received court papers from Glover’s lawyer.
“Our election process was run independently and without preference to either candidate. All ballots from the time they were received to the time they were counted, were in the care and control of initially our independent security firm and subsequently our independent auditors,” said the statement.
The statement went on to say “We hope that after our election committee talks to Ms. Glover and her advisors and respond to her concerns that they will see that the process and the results were handled appropriately, accurately and without favour.”
The PC party noted that the vote counting was overseen by auditors as well as scrutineers from each campaign.
© News4.ca 2021
