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WINNIPEG — A former Manitoba justice minister is aiming to leave the provincial legislature for a seat in the House of Commons.

Andrew Swan, who has been sitting on the opposition benches since the Manitoba New Democrats lost the last election, is seeking the federal NDP nomination in Winnipeg-Centre, a riding currently held by Liberal Robert-Falcon Ouellette.

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“Successive Conservative and Liberal governments have really turned their back on the heart of Winnipeg,” Swan told The Canadian Press on Sunday.

Swan cited issues such as poverty and the rising use of methamphetamines as issues that need to be addressed. The time is also right, personally, for him to be able to make the jump to Ottawa.

“My girls are 20 and 18, they’re both at university, so they don’t need me around quite as much as they would have four years ago.”

Winnipeg Centre has a long history of voting NDP. But former New Democrat MP Pat Martin was voted out in 2015 in favour of Ouellette.