Long-time Tory constituency Lac du Bonnet remains with PCs

Progressive Conservative incumbent and Cabinet Minister Wayne Ewasko will return to the Legislature to represent Lac du Bonnet – a constituency held by the Tories for nearly 40 years.

The CTV News Decision Desk is declaring Ewasko the winner, grabbing 59.8 per cent of the vote with 17 of 37 polls reporting.

Ewasko has served in cabinet as Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Immigration, and recently as Manitoba's Minister of Education and Early Childhood Learning. He was first elected in 2011, following the resignation of his PC predecessor.

Lac du Bonnet has been Tory blue for nearly four decades. The last time the NDP won the constituency was in 1986.

Prior to his time in politics, Ewasko worked 15 years as a teacher and guidance councillor at a school in Beausejour, and had a business for 24 years marketing protective devices. He and his wife have two children.

Ewasko beat NDP candidate Kathy Majowski and Green Party candidate Blair Mahaffy.