Please read our Commenting Policy first. In her first speech as premier, Stefanson promised to strengthen health care and the economy. The government is also committed to listening to and learning from Indigenous people to advance reconciliation, she said.
Stefanson added that she expects the legislature to return later this month with a throne speech. Stefanson, 51, became the first woman to become premier of the province after Progressive Conservative party members chose her as their new leader on the weekend.
Read more: Losing candidate for Manitoba Tory leadership wants swearing-in delayed. Shelly Glover, who narrowly lost to Stefanson when the leadership ballots were counted Saturday, is challenging the result. She claimed that the wrong person has been sworn in.
Manitoba's new premier was sworn into office on Tuesday while her opponent challenged her leadership victory in court. In her first speech as premier, Stefanson promised to strengthen health care and the economy.
The government is also committed to listening to and learning from Indigenous people to advance reconciliation, she said. Stefanson added that she expects the legislature to return later this month with a throne speech.
She did not say whether there would be significant changes in cabinet, but suggested it's not unusual for roles to shift under new leadership. Stefanson, 51, became the first woman to become premier of the province after Progressive Conservative party members chose her as their new leader on the weekend.
Asked about the tight margin of victory, Stefanson said her campaign "never, ever, for one day, took this for granted. The leadership race was triggered after former premier Brian Pallister, whose popularity was in a tailspin in his final months in power, announced in August that he planned to step down.
Cabinet minister Kelvin Goertzen took over the job in the interim. Stefanson has repeatedly promised a more conciliatory approach to leadership than Pallister, her sometimes brash predecessor who was never one to avoid confrontation.
Nearly every member of the party caucus — who wasn't required to remain neutral — backed her leadership bid. She also curried the favour of Conservative MPs, government staffers, party elites and business leaders. Stefanson said addressing the surgical backlog in the health-care system and rebuilding the economy as two of her priorities.
The historic nature of her selection as Manitoba's first female premier isn't lost on her. I've worked in other areas in my life where I've been the only woman around the table, so that's nothing new to me," Stefanson said. Although Stefanson was the overwhelming choice of Tory opinion-leaders, she carries baggage as a stalwart supporter of Pallister's government, which became unpopular in large part due to its handling of the pandemic.
Political opponents have wasted no time tying Stefanson to what they perceive as the party's past mistakes. Stefanson is vowing to repair the damage caused by her predecessor and plans to meet with a wide variety of stakeholder groups, including Indigenous leaders, labour groups and municipalities.
Eliminating elected school boards "was never canvassed out there in the public," said Stefanson. She vowed to consult the public and educators before making any changes to public schools.
Stefanson said she will listen and learn; but eventually she will have to act. And she will have to act sooner rather than later on a number of urgent files — including how to manage growing COVID cases and hospitalizations in the low-vaccine areas of the Southern Health region.
Stefanson speaks to media after being sworn in as Manitoba's 24th premier Tuesday, the same day the province announced new cases of COVID Government will also have to take immediate steps to tackle the massive backlog of surgical and diagnostic wait times and repair the damage caused by the Tories' poor planning in health care. One thing Stefanson doesn't deny: many Manitobans have lost trust in her government.
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