Familiar candidates take centre stage in Provencher election race

Every candidate on the ballot so far in Provencher has some experience running for an elected position. In fact, at this point, 75 percent of the ballot will look the same as the 2023 federal election.

Conservative incumbent Ted Falk is embarking on his fifth election campaign.

Since first elected in a 2013 byelection, Funk has won with the majority of votes all but one year. In 2021 he earned 48.7 percent of the vote to win reelection.

Trevor Kirczenow is back on the ballot as the Liberal choice.

He first appeared on the Provencher ballot in 2019, winning 13.1 percent of the vote. He improved that total in 2021, capturing 17 percent. He has also run provincially.

The last federal election’s third place finisher in Provencher was Noel Gautron of the People’s Party of Canada.

He greatly improved on 2019 PPC results which in Provencher totaled 2.2 percent of the votes for then candidate Wayne Sturby. Gautron increased their totals to 16.4 percent.

Green Party candidate Blair Mahaffy is no stranger to politics but will be campaigning federally in Provencher for the first time.

Mahaffy ran in the Lac du Bonnet constituency in the 2023 provincial election.

He will look to improve their numbers after Janine Gibson tallied up 2.6 percent of the vote in 2021, the lowest numbers since the Green party began running candidates in Provencher in 2004.

An NDP spokesperson said they would be fielding a candidate in every Canadian riding but confirmed none had been nominated in Provencher as of press time.