ManitobaFormer NDP education minister Peter Bjornson has been elected as the school board trustee for Ward 3 of the Louis Riel School Division, after he won more than half of the vote in the southeast Winnipeg byelection race on Saturday. Bjornson won 54 per cent of the vote in the southeast Winnipeg byelection on Saturday night Lauren Scott · CBC News · Posted: Oct 26, 2025 1:39 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesFormer NDP cabinet minister Peter Bjornson was elected school board trustee for Ward 3 of the Louis Riel School Division on Saturday. Bjornson won 54 per cent of the vote. (Peter Bjornson for LRSD Ward 3 /Facebook)Former NDP education minister Peter Bjornson has been elected as the school board trustee for Ward 3 of the Louis Riel School Division, after he won more than half of the vote in the southeast Winnipeg byelection race on Saturday. Bjornson took 54 per cent of the vote share with 787 votes, according to the city’s unofficial byelection results. Susanne Dandenault received 565 votes, or about 39 per cent, and Ben Singer garnered 99 votes, or about seven per cent. A resident of River Park South, Bjornson said he was “very honoured” that voters in the division — where all three of his children attended school — overwhelmingly cast their ballots in his favour. “I felt great to be on the doorstep and be a candidate again,” he said, calling himself an “old-school politician” that values door-knocking and having conversations with the public. Bjornson was the MLA for Gimli, Man., from 2003 to 2015. He handled several portfolios as a cabinet minister for both the Doer and Selinger NDP governments, including education, trade and housing. Peter Bjornson was elected as Ward 3 school board trustee for the Louis Riel School Division in a byelection race in Winnipeg on Saturday. (Peter Bjornson for LRSD Ward 3/ Facebook)Before entering provincial politics, Bjornson taught at Gimli High School for 13 years. “I bring a lot of different perspectives to my experiences, but [I’m] looking forward to this new one,” he said.Bjornson said he will be focused on the budget and funding educators’ classroom needs as the new Ward 3 trustee. “I think one of the things that I think a board really should do is make sure that the money is well spent, primarily on the front line and supporting teachers and supporting EAs,” he said, adding he would like to assess whether EAs are receiving enough preparation to help support students with specific learning needs. “If there are ways that we can put more resources into the hands of teachers, I know when I used to do some projects in Gimli High School, a little bit of extra money would go a long way in providing more enriching and engaging experiences for our students,” Bjornson said. “I’m going to be very much focused on expenditures delivering results for kids, delivering results for teachers and for EAs.”Bjornson said he is also concerned about the impact of artificial intelligence in the classroom, stressing that educators have to be prepared and move quickly to adapt to rapidly-changing technology. Only 1,451 voters cast their ballots out of a possible 27,785 in this byelection — just over five per cent of eligible voters. Bjornson said he would like to see more people turn out in the next election. “We have big budgets and big responsibilities, so I just hope that we see school board elections taking on more profile in the next civic election next year,” he said. For his next political chapter, Bjornson said he is committed to talking to parents and educators to figure out ways to make improvements at the division. “I’m here to listen and be transparent and support your needs and be very open and accessible as trustee,” he said. ABOUT THE AUTHORLauren Scott is a Winnipeg-based reporter with CBC Manitoba. They hold a master’s degree in computational and data journalism, and have previously worked for the Hamilton Spectator and The Canadian Press.
Former Manitoba education minister Peter Bjornson elected as Ward 3 trustee for Louis Riel School Division
