Politics of Manitoba

The Manitoba Legislative Building

Manitoba is governed by a unicameral legislature, the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, similar to the other Canadian provinces and territories.^[1] The executive branch is formed by the majority party; the party leader is the Premier of Manitoba, the head of the executive branch. The head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, is represented by the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, who is appointed by the Governor General of Canada on advice of the Prime Minister.^[2] The head of state is primarily a ceremonial role, although the Lieutenant Governor has the official responsibility of ensuring that Manitoba always has a duly constituted government.^[2] Manitoba is represented in federal politics by fourteen Members of Parliament and six Senators.^[3][4]

The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba was established on July 14, 1870. After the control of Rupert's Land was passed from Great Britain to the Government of Canada in 1869, Manitoba attained full-fledged rights and responsibilities of self-government as the first Canadian province carved out of the Northwest Territories.^[5] The Legislative Assembly consists of the fifty-seven Members elected to represent the people of Manitoba.^[6] Manitoba's primary political parties are the New Democratic Party of Manitoba (NDP) and the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba.

The current premier of Manitoba is Brian Pallister, who replaced Greg Selinger of the New Democratic Party to lead the Conservative majority government of 40 seats. The New Democratic Party holds 14 seats, and the Liberal Party with 3 seats; however, the Liberal Party does not have official party status in the Manitoba Legislature.The last general election was held on April 19, 2016.^[7] Historically, political parties first appeared between 1878 and 1883, with a two-party system (Liberals and Conservatives).^[8] The United Farmers of Manitoba appeared in 1922, and later merged with the Liberals in 1932 to form the dominant political party.^[8] Other parties, including the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), appeared during the Great Depression; in the 1950s, Manitoban politics became a three-party system, and the Liberal party gradually declined in power.^[8] The CCF became the NDP, which came to power in 1969.^[8] Since then, the Conservatives and the NDP have been the dominant parties.^[8]

Manitoba's judiciary consists of three courts: the Court of Appeal, the Court of Queen's Bench, and the Provincial Court. The Provincial Court is primarily a criminal court; 95% of criminal cases in Manitoba are heard in this court.^[9] The Court of Queen's Bench is the highest trial court in Manitoba. It has four jurisdictions: family law (child and family services cases), civil law, criminal law (for indictable offences), and appeals for Provincial Court decisions. The Court of Appeal hears appeals from both the Court of Queen's Bench and the Provincial Court; decisions of this court can only be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.^[10]

Electoral history

Before World War I

Elections to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (1879-1914) - seats won by party

Government		Conservative			Liberal			Conservative
Party		1879	1883	1886	1888	1892	1896	1899	1903	1907	1910	1914
	Liberal-Conservative	7				2		3
	Conservative	6	20	20	4	9	5	18	32	28	28	28
	Liberal	2	10	15	33	26	32	7	8	13	13	20
	National Party	1
	Patrons of Industry						2
	Independent Conservative	2						2
	Independent Liberal	1				2
	Independent	5			1	1	1					1
Total		24	30	35	38	40	40	40	40	41	41	49

Farmers, Labour, CCF and Duff Roblin (1915-1969)

Elections to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (1915-1966) - seats won by party

Government		Liberal		UFM	Progressive	L-P		Coalition			L-P	Progressive Conservative
Party		1915	1920	1922	1927	1932	1936	1941	1945	1949	1953	1958	1959	1962	1966
	Liberal	40	21	8	7									13	14
	Liberal-Progressive					38	23	27	25	31	32	19	11
	Independent Liberal-Progressive										3
	Conservative	5	8	7	15	10	16	12
	Anti-Coalition Conservative							3
	Progressive Conservative								13	9	12	26	36	36	31
	Farmer		12
	United Farmers of Manitoba			28
	Progressive				29
	Labour		9
	Independent Labour			6	1	5
	ILP-CCF						7
	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation							3	9	7	5	11	10
	New Democratic Party													7	11
	Social Democratic	1	1
	Socialist		1
	Social Credit						5	3	2		2			1	1
	Communist						1
	Labour Progressive								1	1	1
	Independent	1	3	6	1	2	3	7	5	9	2	1
Total		47	55	55	55	55	55	57	57	57	57	57	57	57	57

Recent history (1969 to present)

Elections to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (1969–2016) - seats won by party

Government		NDP		PC	NDP		PC			NDP				PC
Party		1969	1973	1977	1981	1986	1988	1990	1995	1999	2003	2007	2011	2016
	New Democratic Party	28	31	23	34	30	12	20	23	32	35	36	37	14
	Progressive Conservative	22	21	33	23	26	25	30	31	24	20	19	19	40
	Liberal	5	5	1		1	20	7	3	1	2	2	1	3
	Social Credit	1
	Independent	1
Total		57	57	57	57	57	57	57	57	57	57	57	57	57

% share of popular vote by party

Party		1969	1973	1977	1981	1986	1988	1990	1995	1999	2003	2007	2011	2016
	New Democratic	38.27	42.31	38.62	47.38	41.50	23.62	28.80	32.81	44.51	49.47	48.00	46.16	25.74
	Progressive	–	–	–	1.81	0.51	0.18	0.24	–	–	–	–	–	–
	Progressive Conservative	35.56	36.73	48.75	43.82	40.56	38.37	41.99	42.87	40.84	36.19	37.89	43.71	53.20
	Liberal	23.99	19.04	12.29	6.70	13.92	35.52	28.15	23.72	13.40	13.19	12.39	7.52	14.24
	Social Credit	1.36	0.37	0.27	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	Confederation of Regions	–	–	–	–	2.44	1.32	0.32	–	–	–	–	–	–
	Western Canada Concept	–	–	–	–	0.14	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	Western Independence	–	–	–	–	–	0.45	0.28	–	–	–	–	–	–
	Manitoba Party	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1.11
	Green	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0.20	0.96	1.34	2.52	5.17
	Independent	0.60	1.49	–	0.24	0.85	0.39	0.09	0.47	0.25	0.04	0.30	0.05	0.46
	Other	0.22	0.06	0.07	0.05	0.08	0.14	0.13	0.13	0.80	0.14	0.09	0.04	0.07

See also

• List of Manitoba general elections
• Monarchy in Manitoba
• Politics of Canada
• Political culture of Canada
• Council of the Federation

References

1. Summers, Harrison Boyd. Unicameral Legislatures. Vol. 11. Wilson; 1936. OCLC 1036784. p. 9.
2. Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba. Roles and Responsibilities [Retrieved 2009-10-29].
3. Government of Canada. Members of Parliament [Retrieved 2009-11-12].
4. Government of Canada. Senators [Retrieved 2009-11-12].
5. Dupont, Jerry. The Common Law Abroad: Constitutional and Legal Legacy of the British Empire. Fred B Rothman & Co; 2000. ISBN 0-8377-3125-9. p. 139–142.
6. Hogg, Peter W. Necessity in Manitoba: The Role of Courts in Formative or Crisis Periods. In: Shimon Shetreet. The Role of Courts in Society. Aspen Publishing; 1988. ISBN 90-247-3670-6. p. 9.
7. Elections Manitoba. 39th General Election [Retrieved 2009-10-29].
8. Adams, Chris. Manitoba’s Political Party Systems: An Historical Overview. Annual Meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association. 2006-09-17:2–23.
9. Manitoba Courts. Provincial Court – Description of the Court’s Work; 2006-09-21 [Retrieved 2009-11-09].
10. Brawn, Dale. The Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba, 1870–1950: A Biographical History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press; 2006. ISBN 0-8020-9225-X. p. 16–20.