ST. PIERRE-JOLYS, MB

This July, Manitoba’s third largest city will host its first ever Pride march, which has presented the ultimate catch-22 for any southern Manitoba politician: show up at the Pride walk and be sent to the gulags by local voters…or stay away and be labeled intolerant by the rest of the country. To avoid such extremes, southeast politicians have been mysteriously fleeing the area. Some have cited, for example, a commitment to attend the Frog Follies Festival in nearby St. Pierre as reason for not attending the Pride march.

Illustrative of the political climate in Provencher are the comments of former Green Party candidate Jeff Wheeldon. During the 2015 federal election campaign, he was asked by CBC whether he’d attend a Pride event if it were held in his riding. “If the

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