Pallister using Metis Federation dispute in email fundraising drive

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/03/2018 (2840 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Premier Brian Pallister is using a mass email centred on his ongoing dispute with Manitoba Hydro and the Manitoba Metis Federation to make a fundraising appeal.

The email message to party members is entitled, “Our duty is to the best interests of Manitobans.” At the end is a large green dollar sign within a blue border, and the word “donate” — click on it, and up pops an extensive webpage from the party, explaining how vital it is to donate to help fund the 2020 election campaign.

It is identical to an article written by Pallister and published in Saturday’s Free Press, with the exception the premier has highlighted some passages using boldface and italics.

“The premier recently penned an op-ed that was published in Manitoba’s most widely-circulated newspapers,” Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba chief executive officer Keith Stewart said Tuesday. “Our party believes in open communication with our members and supporters, and we regularly share this type of content with them to ensure they are well-informed.

“This particular e-mail was sent to party members, as well as those who have previously indicated support for our party or have signed up to receive PC party e-mails.”

The email further outraged the Manitoba Metis Federation — which plans to reveal details Wednesday of legal action it will take against the province, following the government nixing a proposed $67.5-million agreement between Hydro and the MMF, under which the Métis people would agree not to oppose the proposed $453-million transmission line project to Minnesota.

MMF president David Chartrand said Pallister’s op-ed piece “included a number of fallacies and downright lies.”

“I cannot believe that the premier would stoop this low,” Chartrand said Tuesday of the mass email/donation drive, accusing Pallister of using Métis citizens and the recent Hydro board resignations for his own political gain.

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Nine of 10 Tory-appointed member of the Manitoba Hydro board resigned last week, citing Pallister’s refusal for more than a year to meet to discuss critical financial issues.

Chartrand said the MMF will sue the province to achieve the terms of the proposed Hydro-MMF agreement.

Meanwhile, a coalition of southern Manitoba landowners opposed to the Minnesota transmission line filed a lengthy appeal Tuesday to the National Energy Board, said coalition lawyer Kevin Toyne.

Calling the current situation a scandal, and charging the various sides with releasing misleading information, the coalition is asking the NEB to postpone a hearing expected by early summer on the project, until the MMF legal action is settled and the new Hydro board decides if the project can still go ahead.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Nick Martin

Former Free Press reporter Nick Martin, who wrote the monthly suspense column in the books section and was prolific in his standalone reviews of mystery/thriller novels, died Oct. 15 at age 77 while on holiday in Edinburgh, Scotland.