Josh Guenter heads into his second term in office as an MLA energized to know he has the overwhelming support of voting Borderland constituents.
Guenter earned 4,405 of the votes cast in the riding in the Oct. 3 provincial election—71 per cent of the popular vote.
Receiving 902 votes was the NDP’s Rick Derksen followed by Loren Braul receiving 741 votes for the Liberals.
Voter turnout in Borderland was 51 per cent of eligible voters.
“It is humbling,” Guenter said a day after his big win. “I say thank you to all the voters of Borderland who cast their vote for me, and I look forward to going back to work for them at the Legislature.”
It will, of course, be a very different political landscape than it was in Guenter’s first term.
The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba lost their bid for a third term in power to the New Democratic Party of Manitoba.
The NDP earned 34 seats to form a majority government for the next four years. The Conservatives’ 22 seats puts them in the Official Opposition role once again. The Manitoba Liberals earned just one seat.
“I say thank you to all the voters of borderland who cast their vote for me, and I look forward to going back to work for them at the legislature.”
While the Conservatives were in power, Guenter served as the legislative assistant to the Minister of Health and Senior Care and as a member of the provincial Treasury Board. He also served on the cabinet’s Economic Growth and Development Committee and the Public Sector Compensation Committee.
“It will be interesting,” Guenter acknowledged of the changes coming to the Manitoba Legislature. “We’ll be holding the government to account, because that’s what the Opposition does.
“For my part, I’ll be standing up for constituents, as I have over the last four years, and standing up for our way of life and our families and the businesses and the farms of this area. We’ll just be doing that from the Opposition benches now.”
Regardless of what happened on the provincial stage last week, Guenter takes heart at the strong showing his party had in Borderland.
“I have to say it gives me confidence,” he says. “I appreciate being able to do this job from a position of strength. It gives me confidence when I go to the Legislature and take positions and work with my colleagues, both in my party and across the way, knowing that the constituents of Borderland have overwhelmingly cast their ballots in support.
“It gives me the strength and the confidence that I need to be able to go and leave no stone unturned in pursuit of their interests.”
