[2] In 1979, Filmon won a by-election to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in the riding of River Heights, held after the resignation of former Tory leader Sidney Spivak.
Supporters of Ransom would later allege that Filmon's campaign team had sponsored Manness' candidacy as a means of splitting the conservative vote.
However, he was a lukewarm supporter of the compromise at best, and it came to nothing when New Democratic MLA Elijah Harper refused to grant unanimous consent for debate before the bill's deadline.
While not an ideological conservative in the tradition of Margaret Thatcher, Filmon nonetheless presided over an austerity program of budget cuts.
Filmon also permitted suburban regions to break away from the amalgamated city of Winnipeg, reversing the policies initiated by the Edward Schreyer government in the early 1970s.
In 1993, Filmon supported Kim Campbell's bid to lead the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (Winnipeg Free Press, 13 June 1993).
Despite government cuts to social programs and urban development, Filmon's Tories were able to retain their majority in 1995, losing only one seat.
Subsequently, the Filmon government privatized the province's telephone system, mandated balanced budgets, and took actions limiting the power of teacher's and nurse's unions.
While Filmon avoided the rhetoric of Ontario Premier Mike Harris (1995–2002), there were nevertheless strong similarities to the reforms instituted by these governments in the late 1990s.
He promised half a billion dollars in new tax cuts, while claiming that he could simultaneously re-invest an identical amount into health and education.
On June 22, 2005, at the Annual General Meeting of the Exchange Industrial Income Fund (EIF.UN-X), Filmon was elected as the chairman of the board of trustees for the ensuing year.