THERE is a well-worn theory circulating among Manitoba Progressive Conservatives suggesting the real reason they can't knock off the NDP is that too many Tories moved to Alberta.
Could it actually be possible that of the thousands of Manitobans who fled to the black-gold province, the gross majority were Tories? In an electoral battleground where a few hundred votes here or there could change the outcome profoundly, it's fascinating just to consider the possibilities.
In the context of that theory, the hiring of Doug Schweitzer as the new chief executive officer of the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party is an intriguing development.
A graduate of the University of Manitoba law school, Schweitzer fled to Calgary to find his fortune. Now, the 29-year-old is returning to Manitoba to take a full-time gig with a party that has been "first runner-up" in the last three elections.
Schweitzer is being touted as the new face of the Tory party and, in many ways, he is that. Young and professional, he is the kind of guy you want fronting a party desperately in need of a makeover.
A cynic might point out at this point that Schweitzer was not the party's first choice. McFadyen tried to lure loyalist Brent Olynyk away from the City of Winnipeg. But after announcing the hire, the Tories were thwarted by a very late and considerably sweeter offer from the city that Olynyk couldn't refuse.
The loss of Olynyk and the hiring of Schweitzer demonstrate the challenge that many conservative parties face.
A former provincial Tory candidate, Olynyk is a career public servant, a senior city manager and vice-president of the Winnipeg Association of Public Officers. He is, in many ways, very similar to the career bureaucrats and lifelong political operatives that form Premier Gary Doer's much-celebrated inner circle.
Schweitzer, on the other hand, is more typical of the pit-stop professionals found in conservative back offices. Although he has a healthy dose of front-line political experience, and is reputed to be a keen intellect, most of his professional life is still ahead of him and there are no guarantees he's in it for the long haul.
And there is the rub. Conservative parties attract just as many smart people as any party. But it seems Liberal and NDP parties are better stocked with people who make politics a career. Like the "all-the-Tories-moved-to-Alberta" theory, there is no empirical proof of this.
Why is it different for Tories? A prominent Progressive Conservative supporter suggested that given their ideological bent, many of the best conservative minds are simply reluctant to forgo the private sector's bigger paycheques to pursue political power.
In Manitoba, one of former Tory leader Stuart Murray's biggest problems -- and he had a few -- was a lack of quality political staff. Unfortunately for Murray, after former premier Gary Filmon left politics following the 1999 election, most of his key people left as well. Murray had to rebuild a team from thinned ranks short on experience.
In contrast, McFadyen hired former Filmon wunderkind Jonathan Scarth, a signal the new leader wasn't about to fall into the same trap that claimed Murray.
Tories like to disparage the lifers who toil for the NDP, suggesting they remain in politics because they "couldn't make it in the private sector." And that may be true, but when it comes to succeeding at politics there is no substitute for experience and prior success.
The fact is, no party succeeds if its best people approach politics as a high-risk, career-boosting stop on the way to greater fortune in the private sector. Every leader deserves to be surrounded by people who find enough honour and nobility in politics to view it as a career.
Perhaps Schweitzer came back to Manitoba on a mission to save us from the NDP. Or, perhaps he realized that Calgary is an impossible, uninteresting place in large part because it has no extremely long skating rinks to boast about.
The more important question is, how long will Schweitzer stick with McFadyen? The "new face" of the party is little more than lipstick and rouge if it isn't around for the long haul.
dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca
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