Former Olympian Auch claims nomination snub by Tories, echoing past ‘fiasco’

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Complaints by former Olympian Susan Auch about not being able to compete for the Progressive Conservative nomination in next month’s provincial byelection are a reminder of its last leadership race “fiasco,” one political expert says.

“The PCs have not done a good job recently writing and enforcing rules on nomination and leadership contests,” Paul Thomas, University of Manitoba political studies professor emeritus, said Monday.

Auch, who won multiple medals in speedskating while competing in five Winter Olympics, said the Tories made sure she could not get in on the Transcona nomination.

“The party chose to block me from running because certain insiders saw me as a threat,” Auch posted on social media Saturday. “They denied Transcona a real choice and went with the establishment pick instead.”

Auch did not respond to interview requests Monday.

Thomas said Auch’s complaint hearkens back to the 2021 PC leadership race fraught with controversy. At the time, the party established rules that critics said favoured former Tuxedo MLA Heather Stefanson. The leadership election committee disqualified Ken Lee, a former party insider backed by COVID-19 public health restriction opponents and the right-leaning People’s Party of Canada.

Lee argued he sold more party memberships than his opponents and was on track to win the leadership. In the end, former MP and Winnipeg police officer Shelly Glover narrowly lost to Stefanson and unsuccessfully challenged “irregularities” in the process in court.

“The legitimacy of Heather Stefanson’s role as leader and premier was undermined by her narrow victory and the ensuing court case by Shelly Glover alleging the party establishment used the rules to block or weaken her candidacy,” said Thomas.

The party vowed to improve the election process this time around as it decides on a new leader — either Fort Whyte MLA Obby Khan or Churchill lodge owner Wally Daudrich — on April 26.

It will use a points system rather than a one-member, one-vote model to limit how much each constituency can influence the vote and to prevent any constituency from unduly influencing the outcome of the race through mass membership drives.

The PC deadline for nominations to run in the byelection was Feb. 20, two days after the March 18 byelection was called to replace NDP MLA Nello Altomare, who died on Jan. 14. As soon as the writ dropped, the NDP announced Transcona Collegiate vice principal Shannon Corbett would carry the banner for them. The PCs announced Friday that Shawn Nason, the former city councillor for Transcona, would be their candidate.

Auch said in a social media post she spoke to the party Wednesday about seeking the nomination and was told she needed 21 signatures from active PC members in Transcona. She said they refused to provide a membership list, “banned” her from selling memberships and “gave me just 30 hours to complete the impossible task.”

Auch, who is listed as a realtor in Oakbank, didn’t say why she waited until after the byelection was called to seek the nomination.

Party president Brent Pooles denied Auch was blocked, saying she didn’t get her signatures together in time and her application was not allowed.

In a text message Sunday, he said he spoke with Auch to let her know she has the right to appeal the decision with the party’s credentials committee, and that she is doing so.

Pooles said nobody has access to the party membership list until they are an approved candidate and “one would hope that an interested candidate would be able to sign up new members.”

Thomas said the recruitment and selection of candidates is an unregulated, mainly hidden process that political parties treat as an internal matter.

“The nomination process is an important stage in the election and the wider democratic process. The process should inspire trust and confidence based on its openness and fairness,” said Thomas, pointing to the NDP, which didn’t allow media to attend its nomination meeting where Corbett was chosen over union organizer Roque Anonuevo.

“Increasingly, control over the nominations is exercised by party leaders who must sign nomination papers for candidates,” said Thomas.

Control is seen as necessary “to prevent the worst-case scenario of an extreme candidate winning a nomination by signing up instant members and busing them to a nomination meeting,” he said.

“On the other hand, centralized control seems to undermine internal party democracy and local control over the nomination process.”

— with files from Tyler Searle

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca