Author, broadcaster, and activist Wab Kinew is running uncontested for the NDP in Winnipeg’s Fort Rouge constituency in the upcoming provincial election on April 19. The current seat holder, former finance minister Jennifer Howard, has stepped down.

It was also announced that Kinew will no longer serve as host for this year’s CBC’s Canada Reads. He hosted the literary competition in 2015 and participated as a panel member in 2014, defending Joseph Boyden’s The Orenda. A new host has yet to be named.

Kinew’s memoir, The Reason You Walk: A Memoir (Viking Canada), is shortlisted for this year’s RBC Taylor Prize, the winner of which will be announced March 7.