re-registered with Elections Manitoba in 1998, after a petition was presented with 3500 signatures. Rankin faced a leadership challenge from Paul Sidon in January 2004, receiving 79% delegate support against 21% for Sidon. Rankin left the party in 2019. Organizer Andrew Taylor, a former anti-apartheid activist, trade unionist and professor, ran for the Communist Party in Winnipeg North during the 2019 federal election. Throughout 2020, the CPC-M was vocal in criticizing Premier Brian Pallister's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a statement from the CPC-M, "free market ideologues have escalated a foreseeable second wave in pursuit of profit, creating the perfect conditions for a public health disaster." Election results Notes: 1: The party was banned under Section 98, and fielded its candidates under the 'United Front' banner. 2: In 1941 the party was banned under the Defence of Canada Regulations. 3: Between 1945 and 1958 the party fielded candidates as the Labor-Progressive Party. 4: The sole candidate of the CPC (M) ran as an independent. Party leaders Bill Kardash 1943 – 12 December 1948 William Ross 12 December 1948 – 1981 Paula Fletcher 1981–1986 Lorne Robson (election of 1988) Frank Goldspink (election of 1990) (*) Darrell Rankin 1996–2019 Frank Komarniski 2019–present (*) Provincial organizer, may not have been an official party leader. See also Communist Party of Canada (Manitoba) candidates, 2003 Manitoba provincial election References Further reading Nelson Wiseman, Social Democracy in Manitoba: a History of the CCF-NDP (Univ. of Manitoba Press, 2014). External links Political parties established in 1921 Communist Party of Canada Provincial political parties in Manitoba 1921 establishments in Manitoba