NDP vote leaves Premier Selinger in place for leadership contest

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This article was published 06/12/2014 (3931 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Premier Greg Selinger will stay in office for the forthcoming campaign for the leadership of the governaling NDP.

The party’s Provincial Council today voted against a resolution for Selinger and other candidates to “take a leave of absence” from political office during the contest.

“Democracy works,” Minister of Tourism Ron Lemieux said as he left the meeting.

NDP member Curtis Nordman’s non-binding resolution was defeated in a secret ballot.

It’s believed because it wasn’t legally binding it could not be approved.

Nordman said after the four-hour meeting he was disappointed his resolution failed.

“The council has spoken,” Nordman said. “I think we missed an opportunity to be as transparent as is humanly possible.

“I think that the public will look at a situation in which a candidate, whether he be premier or whether he be a cabinet minister, remains in cabinet, remains in the government, while they are pursuing the leadership of the party puts them in a perceived conflict of interest situation.”

NDP MLA Andrew Swan, one of five cabinet ministers who resigned last month over Selinger’s continued leadership of the party, also said he was disappointed at the outcome.

“I think it’s quite clear to most Manitobans that the right thing to do is step down,” Swan said, adding that doing so has been a tradition in Manitoba politics during leadership campaigns.

A vote count on Nordman’s resolution will not be released by the party, its president Ellen Olfert said.

The defeat of Nordman’s resolution, and the debate leading up to it, took up a large part of the meeting, which was closed to the media.

The meeting was held for the council to approve 18 rules that will govern the leadership election at the party’s regularly scheduled annual convention March 6-8.

It will allow candidates to begin selling memberships, to determine the number of delegates they can recruit, until Jan. 6.

“These rules will serve as a framework for an open and fair process should there be a leadership election at our annual convention,” Olfert said. “They focus on timelines and specific guidelines around memberships, nominations and governance.”

The party made it clear that in accordance with The Election Finances Act, taxpayer dollars will not be used for any party or leadership purposes. Participants in any potential leadership process would be required to sign a declaration attesting to this provision.

“I’m pleased we have adopted a fair and democratic process that will allow our party to move forward and continue working on behalf of all Manitobans,” Olfert said.

Selinger attended the first hour of the meeting to provide a report to council members and take questions.

He received a polite standing ovation from more than half the delegates. About 200 delegates and observers, including members of the NDP caucus and political staff, attended the meeting held at a downtown hotel.

Selinger was not immediately available after the meeting, but told reporters when he left that he would respect the decision of council.

“We’ll let the delegates do their job and we’ll see what comes out,” he said.

NDP MLA Theresa Oswald, who also resigned her cabinet post over the leadership issuet, also declined comment after the meeting. She did not attend it.

She has said she is considering a run against Selinger.

“I am consulting with lots of people regarding the best path forward, but no comments beyond that,” she said in an email today.

Swan, the former justice minister, and Jennifer Howard, the former finance minister, greeted delegates outside the room to hand them a two-page orange pamphlet intended to repudiate a letter released Friday by Paul Moist, national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

Moist’s letter was critical of Oswald, Swan, Howard and two other ministers who resigned last month in a failed attempt to force Selinger from office.