| Premier of Manitoba | |
|---|---|
| Premier ministre du Manitoba | |
.jpg) | |
| Office of the Premier | |
| Style |
|
| Status | Head of Government |
| Member of | |
| Reports to | |
| Seat | Manitoba Legislative Building 450 Broadway,Winnipeg, MB |
| Appointer | Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba with theconfidence of the Manitoba Legislature |
| Term length | At His Majesty's pleasure contingent on the premier's ability tocommand confidence in the legislative assembly |
| Formation | September 16, 1870[1] |
| First holder | Alfred Boyd |
| Deputy | Deputy Premier of Manitoba |
| Salary | In 2025, $109,268 (MLA Basic Annual Salary) plus $91,566 (Premier Additional Annual Salary).[2] Additional MLA Allowances include Living Allowance, Travel Allowance, Office Rent Allowance, Assistants Allowance, Constituency Allowance (between $68,140 and $76,333), and others.[3] |
| Website | Premier official website |
Thepremier of Manitoba (French:premier ministre du Manitoba) is thefirst minister andhead of government for theCanadian province ofManitoba—as well as thede facto President ofthe province's Executive Council.[4]
In formal terms, the premier receives a commission to form a government from theLieutenant Governor of Manitoba, who represents themonarch at the provincial level.
The 25th and current premier of Manitoba is Wab Kinew, who was sworn in on October 18, 2023.
The premier of Manitoba is the head of the government, in that they are the head of the provincial party capable of winning avote of confidence in theLegislative Assembly of Manitoba. In this sense, the role of the premier is the same as theprime minister, but at the provincial level.[5]
After being sworn in, the premier organises a provincial cabinet (theExecutive Council), which is formally appointed by thelieutenant governor (LG). Together, the premier and lieutenant governor are comparable toU.S. state governors: the lieutenant governor performs functions of state and protocol, such as signing bills into law, as theKing's representative to the province; while the premier is responsible for overseeing the operations of government as head of the cabinet.
The premier also represents the province on a national level, and has talks with otherpremiers and the Prime Minister once a year.
The Province of Manitoba was created on 12 May 1870 with the passing of theManitoba Act. The next month, on July 15, the Province was officially admitted intoConfederation. On December 30 that year, the first election was held for theManitoba's Legislative Assembly.[6]
From 1870 to 1874, Manitoba was governed by its first twoLieutenant Governors (LG),Adams Archibald andAlexander Morris.[7]: ix As agents of the LGs,Alfred Boyd (1870–71) andHenry James Clark (1872–74), who are often named in various lists as the first Manitoba premiers, never actually held the title of "Premier."[7]: ix [8] Accordingly, there has been debate as to whether the Office of Premier can be considered to have existed beforeMarc-Amable Girard's premiership that began in July 1874.[8] Lieutenant Governor Morris recognized Girard as such in the following correspondence to theSecretary of State in Ottawa:
Sir,
I have the honor to inform you, that the Legislative Assembly having adopted avote of want of confidence in the Ministry of Manitoba by a vote of 15 to 7, I accepted the resignations which the ministers tendered me and having called upon the Hon'ble Mr. Gerard [sic] to form a new administration, that gentleman succeeded in the task entrusted to him ...
I would call your attention to the fact that in forming the Government I did so through the intervention of a premier thus introducing responsible Government in its modern type into the Province - the previous Ministry was selected personally by my predecessor and none of its members were recognized as first minister.
— Lieutenant-GovernorAlexander Morris (13 July 1874)
Additionally,Wab Kinew, Leader ofManitoba's New Democratic Party (NDP), introduced abill in 2020 to formally recognize the founder of Manitoba,[9]Louis Riel, as the province's first premier.[10] While this private member's bill (bill 206 of the 42nd legislature) was defeated, Wab later passed the bill in 2023 when he became Premier (bill 2 of the 43rd legislature).
Until 1888, the administrations of Manitoba werenon-partisan. That year,Thomas Greenway would become the first partisan and firstLiberal premier of Manitoba, followed by ConservativeHugh John Macdonald.[7]: x Progressivism would finally make its way to Manitoba's government in 1922, under the non-partisanUnited Farmers leaderJohn Bracken, who held office for 20 years under various political and non-partisan labels.[7]: xii
Since the 1950s, Manitoba has alternated between governments led by the New Democrats (and predecessors) and by theProgressive Conservatives (PC; and predecessors).[11] Moreover, throughout theprovince's history, all but one of its governments—PremierSterling Lyon (1977–81)—have been elected to second terms.[11][12]
In 2016, long-time conservative politicianBrian Pallister became the 22nd premier of Manitoba, upending 17 years of NDP governance in the province.[11][13] Pallister'slandslide victory would follow the premiership of NDPGreg Selinger (2009–16), whoMaclean's says has been regarded as Canada's "least popular premier."[13] Following his election, according to theAngus Reid Institute, Pallister was the 2nd-most-popular premier in the country; however, his popularity would steadily decline since (with anapproval rating of 37% two years into his mandate).[13]
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