Clearing the air and clearing the deck

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/11/2023 (1028 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Let’s begin with clearing the air.

I owe Myer’s Delicatessen, and Free Press readers, an apology.

In the Nov. 4 edition, I misspelled the name of a great Winnipeg institution. I refuse to violate everything I ever published about apologies, by attaching qualifications to this one.

I won’t give you chapter and verse on why when my eye sees the name Myer, it always places an “E” before the “Y” Never mind that some of my best friends in school and members of my extended family with that name, spelled it with an E. My tunnel vision is not the problem of Myer’s Delicatessen, celebrating its 65th anniversary at 1842 Grant Avenue.

So without qualifications, reservations, or pontifications, I am as sorry as I can be. I hit the goal post and I’m grateful that this paper was able to delete the pesky vowel in the electronic edition, which is a far more flexible platform than print, where it remained misspelled because I misspelled it. I take 100 per cent responsibility for the error. I promise to be better. And while I never ask for forgiveness, if it’s offered, I will enthusiastically bite into it.

Don’t expect former premier Heather Stefanson to offer a full-throated apology for misleading Manitobans on the night of her otherwise gracious concession speech 37 days ago. She created the impression that she would be resigning very soon as leader of the Manitoba PCs.

Even when political leaders don’t get smoked like beef in a campaign, once it’s clear that they are a drag on the party, they tend to go gently into the night. It may take a few months, but not 12 months or 18 months.

On the night of Oct. 3, an assumption became rooted in the minds of the Progressive Conservative MLAs who survived the bloodbath.

They thought the party would lick its wounds with the help of an interim leader, like the former justice minister and former interim premier of Manitoba, Kelvin Goertzen. A new leader would then be selected during a lengthy process of reflection, self examination and a leadership campaign.

That new leader would most likely take over the reins in the fall of 2024, or perhaps as late as the spring of 2025. But while it only took a few weeks for the government to change hands, once the people had voted, there was no party rule compelling Heather Stefanson to ride off into the political sunset. She can remain the party leader right up until the moment her successor is chosen. She can cling to this thing for a brutally long time. It may even last as long as the time she spent in the premier’s chair — 23 months.

As a PC cabinet minister, Heather Stefanson would have been severely annoyed if Brian Pallister had chosen to stay in his legislature seat, once he announced that he was hanging things up.

Pallister had the instinctive horse sense and Manitoba manners to not become a distraction to the party. Stefanson’s move to hang around like a bathtub ring is just one more bad decision in a year where the record shows she has made far too many of them.

Stefanson did not just lose to a better competitor. She lost the respect of far too many Manitoba PC supporters. Many on election day decided it was time to skate the party into the penalty box. Some formerly reliable PC voters, for the first time in their lives, laced up as NDP voters.

Common sense tells Manitoba PCs it would be best for Heather Stefanson to go into exile, just like her predecessor. He likes Costa Rica. She prefers Florida.

Democracy doesn’t care. It moves on with or without them. But if she truly wants to be seen as caring about the future of her party, she should do something new and refreshing — make a smart decision.

For Heather Stefanson, politics is a pain in the neck. For the PCs she is an albatross around their necks.

Those who sit in the Manitoba PC caucus can’t tell her. I just did.

Ms. Stefanson, politics is always a gamble. In a classic tune from the ’70s, Kenny Rogers offered this advice. “You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.”

We speak plainly on the prairie. We are your neighbours, Heather.

Here’s the message from the neighbourhood – one word with only one spelling.

Retire.

Charles Adler is a longtime political commenter and podcaster. charles@charlesadler.com