In September 2014, during a caucus retreat, several MLAs openly told Selinger he needed to resign but he refused. A month later, at the end of October Jennifer Howard (Fort Rouge), minister of finance, Stan Struthers (Dauphin), minister of municipal government, Theresa Oswald (Seine River), minister for jobs and the economy, Andrew Swan (Minto), minister of justice and Erin Selby (Southdale), minister of health. and several senior party officials went public with their call for Selinger's resignation. Selinger asked the media labeled "gang of five", ministers to either disavow their public statements or quit. The five resigned on Monday November 3. The same day Selinger said in a statement he was saddened by their decisions, but had made it clear they could either "focus on the priorities of Manitoba families as part of our team, or resign." Selinger accepted the resignations of the five senior cabinet ministers and installed their replacements hours later. Selinger responded on November 9 by asking the party executive to hold a leadership election during the party's annual convention scheduled for March 6–8, 2015, stating his intention to be a candidate. The party executive subsequently agreed. Theresa Oswald, one of the five rebel ex-ministers, challenged Selinger for the leadership as did Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation Steve Ashton who had not protested against Selinger but who resigned from cabinet to enter leadership contest. At the March 8, 2015 leadership election, Ashton was eliminated on the first ballot and Selinger prevailed on the second ballot with 50.93% of ballots cast, defeating Oswald by 33 votes. Selinger's popularity never recovered after his party raised the PST in 2013, and his party was heavily defeated by the Progressive Conservatives in the 2016 provincial election. Selinger resigned as party leader following his government's defeat and returned to the backbench. Selinger announced on February 20, 2018 that he was resigning his seat in the legislature effective March 7, 2018.