Why St. Boniface is a race to watch in the Manitoba provincial election

A Winnipeg constituency where one of the provincial party leaders is the incumbent could be a race to watch on election night

"I think Dougald Lamont should be worried a bit,” said Chris Adams, adjunct professor or political science.

Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont is the MLA for St. Boniface, and is running for re-election

The former lecturer, consultant and adviser won comfortably in the 2019 election by nearly 1,200.

"I'm proud of the work we've done and I think we've really shown that we offer something the other parties don't," Lamont said.

Adams said Lamont might have a tougher time this election.

Recent polling shows the NDP are ahead of PCs, who sit in second place, with the Liberals a distant third.

"The NDP has more to gain by a Liberal decline in support than the PCs," Adams said.

Wab Kinew has been publicly courting Liberal voters, and St. Boniface has been an NDP seat in the recent past under former premier Greg Selinger.

Teacher and community activist Robert Loiselle is the NDP hopeful for St. Boniface. He has deep roots in the community and feels his leader’s strategy helps.

"I think that people that know me in St. Boniface know my track record and know that I care deeply for my community and will make the right decision and support me,” he said.

However, Lamont enjoys the advantages of being the incumbent and the profile that comes with being a party leader.

"You're at the leadership debates and things like that so people of St Boniface will have a high understanding of Dougald Lamont simply by being the leader,” Adams said.

He also moved to the constituency since winning the seat.

While Lamont says he takes nothing for granted, he is confident.

"No, I'm not worried. I'm excited. We can hold our own seats and I'm looking forward to picking up some more,” he said.

There are two other hopefuls running in St. Boniface.

The PC candidate is Kiratveer Hayer, a university student and former community resource worker.

Damon Bath is representing the Communist Party.