PC candidates trade barbs in first debate

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This article was published 20/02/2025 (230 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — Two competing visions for the future of Manitoba’s Official Opposition party clashed hard Wednesday evening as Progressive Conservative leadership candidates Wally Daudrich and Obby Khan traded insults during the party’s first leadership debate in front of a crowd of nearly 100 strong.

Khan, a former provincial cabinet minister and pro football player, tried to paint himself as a “big tent” leader who could bring Conservatives of all stripes together to win another eight seats in vote-rich Winnipeg come the next provincial election.

He expressed a belief in core values of faith, family, fiscal responsibility, less government, less bureaucracy, community and freedom.

“These are conservative values. We might not agree on everything for how far it goes,” Khan said, “but the thesis still brings us under one big tent together.”

While arguing that he has already had experience winning elections and knows what it takes to win, he questioned Daudrich’s apparent lack of interest in running for an open seat in the upcoming Transcona byelection that was announced earlier this week.

“There is a seat in Transcona right now. It’s still open if he wants it. Will he take that chance?” Khan asked.

Daudrich, the Churchill-based businessman, refused to take the bait, and instead publicly questioned whether Khan was conservative enough to be leader of the PC Party.

He also bolstered his conservative resumé by stating that he had campaigned with Stephen Harper, but that his opponent had campaigned with former Manitoba Liberal leader Rana Bokhari and former Ontario Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne.

In one particularly testy point in the debate while speaking of homelessness and drug addiction in Manitoba, and the need for compassion, Khan referenced news reports earlier this month in which Daudrich reportedly joked to a group of party members that he could reduce homelessness in Manitoba’s capital by letting polar bears loose downtown.

“You know who said that? This guy. So will he today say sorry for making that bad joke?” Khan asked.

Daudrich did not offer an apology, and instead doubled down on his comments, saying that he sometimes uses humour to make a point, and that Churchill’s mayor and council do not tolerate homelessness in his community.

“Yes, I made a joke to make a point, and that it’s a decision for a government, whether it’s Winnipeg, Thompson or Brandon. If you’re going to have homeless people, that’s your choice. That’s the choice in the mirror. You’re going to have people that get into trouble, absolutely, but you can deal with it in a humane and immediate fashion.”

Among the major topics of the night was how the Tories could find their way back into power, and how the party would address the fact that the province is essentially broke.

Both candidates said it was time to essentially abandon the current health-care model and look outside Manitoba for an alternative that could function better in this province, and blamed the NDP for essentially bankrupting Manitoba.

Both candidates praised Alberta Premier Danielle Smith for her efforts to fix health care in that province.

In another testy moment between the two candidates, Khan questioned Daudrich’s integrity for accepting the endorsement of an Alberta company that he claimed appeared to be a shell company that had no board of directors and “no connection with Manitoba.”

“Who is this third-party organization? How do you know them? Is this not outside interference? And most importantly, how did they obtain personal emails of PC Party members?” Khan demanded.

Daudrich countered that he has been writing articles in the Western Standard paper about his project, a saltwater port that would “make Manitoba the wheelhouse of Western Canada in economies,” and that clearly the Alberta company liked his idea.

Increasingly angry comments back and forth between the candidates on the topic — with Khan demanding an answer to his question — prompted Daudrich to question Khan’s conservative values to prevent the destruction of the party.

“I’m not going to apologize because somebody likes what I want to do here in Manitoba,” Daudrich said. “One of the reasons I jumped into this race is because we need a real conservative in this race. If we don’t have a real conservative, guess what? Our party’s going to splinter.

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“There’s people waiting in the wings to start a new party because they don’t think that this party’s conservative now. So I’m standing up for conservative values. Whether or not you agree with me or accept the answer, that’s too bad.”

Daudrich said he would reorganize the Progressive Conservative Party in Manitoba like a profitable, successful business. And as the premier of the province he would plan to do the same with Manitoba’s economy, so that the government could afford better health care and infrastructure.

“I don’t want to just balance the budget. I want to grow the economy so much that we can afford the best health care and the best infrastructure and the best public safety program in Canada,” Daudrich said in his closing statement. “I don’t want to just ensure that the economy is vibrant enough that Manitobans don’t want to move away. I want an economy that is so successful that Manitobans want to move home.”

mgoerzen@brandonsun.com

Bluesky: @mattgoerzen.bsky.social