Gloves have been dropped in Tory nomination fight

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This article was published 04/04/2015 (4184 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — The Conservative nomination battle in Kildonan-St. Paul is taking on a nasty tone with a Winnipeg city councillor threatening to sue a Tory MLA for defamation over comments made on Facebook.

City Coun. Jeff Browaty, who filed papers last week to seek the nomination, threatened St. Paul MLA Ron Schuler Friday with a libel suit over comments Schuler made on Facebook about Browaty’s behaviour and comments he has made about city development.

Schuler’s riding shares much of the boundary with the federal Kildonan-St. Paul seat, and he, along with outgoing Tory MP Joy Smith, have made it clear they are supporting Browaty’s opponent, former Winnipeg Blue Bombers president Jim Bell.

On Thursday, Schuler posted a photo of himself and Bell on his Facebook page, once again singing Bell’s praises. In the comments, Schuler got into a discussion with a local Conservative questioning why Schuler was supporting Bell, and made a comment Browaty says is defamatory.

His lawyer, local Tory Clay Purves, issued a letter Friday demanding Schuler send Browaty a written apology and post the apology on Facebook for five days, or he will be sued.

Purves denied Browaty ever said what Schuler accuses him of saying and also takes issue with a characterization of Browaty which Purves said was “published maliciously.”

Schuler scoffed at the threat and said he wouldn’t be intimidated. He pointed to two news articles from 2011 and 2014 in which Browaty discusses the issue at hand as proof, and said Browaty is proving his character by threatening to sue.

“This is pretty thin-skinned,” said Schuler.

Purves said he would not comment, and Browaty could not be reached Friday.

The Free Press is not publishing the comments in question.

The argument, however, is a sign of just how tense the nomination battle has become.

Browaty, who once worked with Schuler at the Manitoba legislature and was an employee of Smith’s briefly after she was elected as an MP, has had a falling-out with both of them.

His bid for the nomination is tougher given the outgoing MP and the area MLA are supporting someone else, and will lend Bell their campaign assistance, including help signing up members which is the make-or-break activity to winning a party nomination.

Browaty has his own campaign apparatus and many supporters who can back him up, but the fight is tougher with Smith and Schuler actively campaigning against him.

There is also a whisper campaign that Bell shouldn’t be running because he hasn’t been a party member long enough. The rules require anyone seeking to run for the Conservatives to have been a party member for at least six months. Bell said he didn’t join the party until after he left the Bombers organization last August, because it is customary for people in senior executive positions such as his to have no political affiliation.

The membership requirement can be waived if certain party officials agree, and Schuler said Friday he believed that would happen.

The nomination is set for May 3.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca