Karl Krebs, who was among Manitoba’s most public pandemic restriction opponents and ran for office in Winkler, has died.

A long-haul trucker turned podcaster, Krebs ran to become mayor of Winkler in 2022. He lost to the southern Manitoba city’s current mayor, Henry Siemens.

Siemens confirmed Krebs’s death in a statement to CBC on Saturday, extending his condolences to family and friends after his sudden passing.

Krebs was involved in the trucker convoy in Ottawa and was an organizer behind a movement he titled “Things that Matter,” which hosted rallies and condemned pandemic restrictions in and around Winkler.

Larry Brandt, a friend of Krebs, told CBC Krebs’s death was sudden. 

Brandt declined an interview, but in a social media post said Krebs stood firm in what he believed was right, adding that protecting children and defending families were causes close to his heart.