Erin Selby has made it official.

The Manitoba MLA announced on Friday morning her candidacy for the federal NDP in the Saint Boniface—Saint Vital riding.

"Over the last 10 years it's become clear that Stephen Harper has the wrong priorities for Winnipeg families," said the former cabinet minister who served as health minister.

"Without consulting the provinces, Stephen Harper announced massive health transfer reductions; federal downloading that causes excessive strain on provincial budgets and hurts patient care. I'm ready to stop them in their tracks."

Selby was acclaimed as the NDP nominee for the Saint Boniface—Saint Vital riding.

On the provincial political level, her relationship with Premier Greg Selinger soured when she became part of a group of five NDP MLAs who resigned their cabinet seats in November 2014, citing "turmoil" and "grave concerns" about not being able to speak their minds in government.

Erin Selby announced her candidacy for the NDP in the federal Saint Boniface—Saint Vital riding, saying she wants to stop Stephen Harper's Conservatives "in their tracks." (Camille Gris Roy/CBC) She has, since then, served as a backbencher on the government side of the Manitoba legislature but said Friday she will resign that position to focus on the upcoming federal election.

Selinger, who lives in that federal riding, was asked by reporters if he plans to put up a Selby sign or help out with the campaign.

"Right now I'm focussed on the job here in the province and I haven't been directly involved in the federal campaign," he said.

The current MP for the Saint Boniface—Saint Vital riding, Conservative Shelly Glover, announced in April that she wouldn't seek re-election.

Her decision wasn't much of a surprise, as it was reported last month that she was mulling over a federal run.

And several St. Boniface residents received polling phone calls last month, asking how they felt about the two confirmed federal candidates in the riding — Liberal candidate Dan Vandal and Conservative candidate François Catellier — as well as Selby.

Asked by reporters why she got into the race so late, Selby said "this is a big decision to make — not a decision to make lightly. And it also involves family, so I had to take the time to make sure this was the right decision for me and my family."

Selby was also asked if she could catch up.

"I will get to as many doors as I possibly can," she said, "but I am hearing from people that if they want to vote strategically the only one who is going to beat Stephen Harper is Thomas Mulcair."

Could Tories benefit?

Vandal said Selby's got things backwards.

"I can say this, the NDP are polling single digits, single digit numbers, in Saint Boniface—Saint Vital," he said.

"I'm leading a close race with the Conservative [candidate] and a vote for the NDP in Saint Boniface—Saint Vital will only help Stephen Harper."

Vandal also said he's not surprised Selby got into the race so late.

"She had a very busy year as one of the rebel five trying to unseat her premier. After that was not successful, it seemed [to her] like a good idea [to try a federal run] late in the game."

Meanwhile, Catellier brushed aside suggestions that his campaign would benefit from Selby entering the election race.

"I can't tell you who is going to take votes from anyone. The important thing is what's going to happen on Oct. 19," Catellier told CBC News on Friday afternoon.

"I can tell you that our government has a prudent fiscal management plan in place based on past history and we want to produce that again in the future."

The St. Boniface businessman said when he's out campaigning, he finds people eager to meet the candidate and express their concerns about the state of the economy.

"We are very pleased to hear that people agree with the idea of 'steady as she goes' as we go into a world economic slowdown," he said.

Catellier didn't exactly say whether Selby's lack of French-language skills would harm her chances, but he offered this assessment of his own candidacy.

"Our riding had a nomination competition and I came out on top as a bilingual person for the riding, so that tells me that our association believes that bilingualism is important to win this riding," he said.

Glenn Zaretski is running in the riding for the Green Party.