Would-be Turtle Mountain candidate ‘not surprised’ PC party won’t let him run

BRANDON — Wally Daudrich said he’s “not surprised” by the Manitoba Progressive Conservative party’s decision to prevent him from running for the Tories in Turtle Mountain in the next provincial election.

The PCs announced in a news release Wednesday the Churchill tourism company owner “will not be permitted” to seek the party’s nomination in the Westman constituency.

Daudrich, who owns the former PC party headquarters in Winnipeg and lives just east of the Turtle Mountain constituency, narrowly lost the Tory leadership last year to Obby Khan. Daudrich received more votes, but Khan won because the ballots were weighted by constituency.

Since his December announcement that he would seek the party’s nomination, he had been actively campaigning and selling memberships to people in the riding, Daudrich said.

“They looked at the votes and they said: ‘we can’t possibly let Wally win, so we’re gonna disqualify him because the vote is next Saturday,’” he said.

The party’s nomination meetings were originally scheduled for June 13 in Boissevain and Somerset.

Daudrich said he had gone through two rounds of vetting and sold hundreds of memberships for the party.

He said he has “no idea” why he was barred from pursuing the nomination, other than the party didn’t want him to win.

“I was told at the beginning that I have a clear path to run, that I should go through the vetting process. I did all of that and I’ve been working hard for six months and now I’m told I can’t run.”

Daudrich said he believes the decision was made by the party leader and campaign manager.

Khan and party president Peter Smith didn’t grant interview requests Thursday.

In a statement, Smith said all potential candidates seeking the party’s nomination must meet certain eligibility requirements.

“Mr. Daudrich was subject to certain conditions during the vetting process, of which he was aware,” Smith said. “After repeated advisement those conditions were not met, his application was not entitled to proceed.”

Smith said Daudrich was informed on Wednesday that he was no longer considered a “potential candidate.”

The party scheduled the nomination meetings after Turtle Mountain MLA Doyle Piwniuk announced in November he would retire from politics at the end of his term.

Piwniuk and Agassiz MLA Jodie Byram didn’t respond to requests for comment on their party’s decision. Riding Mountain MLA Greg Nesbitt and Brandon West MLA Wayne Balcaen declined interview requests.

Swan River MLA Rick Wowchuk said Thursday morning the news came as a surprise to him and he was still waiting for an explanation from the party.

“There’s obviously some stuff internally that must have occurred,” Wowchuk said, adding that it would be difficult for him to comment without more information.

“I thought it was all a go and everything and when I saw that (Wednesday) I was surprised,” he said.

“Obviously what happened has been put into careful consideration, and so I look forward to hearing exactly what transpired.”

Spruce Woods MLA Colleen Robbins also said it was difficult for her to comment on the matter without more information.

“I have full confidence in them that they made the decision based on our constitution and rules and stuff, because I know when I ran, I felt it was very good and very fair,” Robbins said.

Robbins won in a byelection last August. Daudrich told the Brandon Sun last May that he asked Khan to give him the nomination in that riding outright, but when Khan said no, Daudrich backed out of the race. At the time, he said he didn’t pursue the nomination further because he had just run the six-month leadership contest.

Robbins said when she’s seen Khan and Daudrich in the same room, they seemed to get along “really well,” and she doesn’t see their public disagreements from the leadership race being an issue with the Turtle Mountain nomination.

“They seem to — after the leadership — get along quite well,” she said.

University of Manitoba political studies Prof. Christopher Adams said the PC party is really made up of two big wings — one in rural Manitoba and one in the urban Winnipeg.

The party cutting Daudrich off, he said, will not ease the friction between those wings.

“We’re going to have to see what the blowback is, what might happen,” he said. “I suspect there’ll be some party members who will be very disillusioned by the fact of somebody they’ve supported being blocked from running.”

He said he believes the story about what happened will eventually come out, and that there’s likely something deeper than just “sour grapes” between the two former leadership rivals.

Mark Custance, a councillor in the Municipality of Two Borders, is now the sole candidate seeking the party’s nomination. The Tories confirmed no one else is registered to run. Candidates had until Tuesday to register.

In early March, the NDP announced Rick Pauls as its candidate in the riding. Pauls previously served as the mayor of Killarney-Turtle Mountain.

As for what’s next for Daudrich, he said he’s keeping his options open.

“I love Turtle Mountain,” he said. “Turtle Mountain is my kind of people, and I’ve fallen in love with the people that I’ve met.”

— Brandon Sun