Provincial Politics
In December 2008, Blakie announced that he would seek the NDP nomination for the provincial division of Elmwood, which had been vacated by Jim Maloway, Blaikie's own successor in the federal riding of Elmwood-Transcona. He won the nomination unopposed, after two previously-declared candidates withdrew to support him. Both Blaikie and Maloway have rejected the suggestion that they planned to "swap" their federal and provincial seats, and Blaikie has said that he returned to political life on the request of Premier Gary Doer. He was elected without difficulty in late March 2009, and formally joined the legislature the following month. On November 3, 2009 Blaikie was appointed to the cabinet of Premier Greg Selinger as the Minister of Conservation and Government House Leader.
As Conservation Minister, Blaikie stewarded the development of five new provincial parks in Manitoba in 2011 and played a significant role in the government's attempts to protect the boreal forest on the east side of Lake Winnipeg.
On July 11, 2011, Blaikie announced that he would not be re-offering at the October 4 provincial election and would be retiring from political life.
Read more about this topic: Bill Blaikie
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