Keystone Party better ‘fit’ for former Tory Daudrich: Khan

Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan said he wasn’t given a heads-up former Tory rival Wally Daudrich was switching allegiances to run in a byelection this month, but it’s good he chose a party he feels is a better “fit.”

“Mr. Daudrich has chosen a different path — it’s a democratic right,” Khan said Thursday.

Days after quitting the PC party, Daudrich announced Wednesday he would run for the Keystone Party in The Pas-Kameesak byelection set for July 21.

Khan said he doesn’t see Daudrich posing a threat to the PCs there or anywhere else in Manitoba where the right-leaning social conservative campaigns.

“I don’t view democracy as a threat. I view it as people choose to vote for whoever they want,” said Khan, who narrowly defeated Daudrich in April 2025 to become leader of the PCs.

The next provincial election is due by Oct. 5, 2027. Daudrich sought the PC nomination in Turtle Mountain, where Tory incumbent Doyle Piwniuk is not seeking re-election but was disqualified last month by the PC executive. On Saturday, Daudrich sent the party a letter saying he was no longer a member.

“Mr. Daudrich has made his views and values and opinions very clear to Manitobans,” Khan said Thursday. “I believe, ultimately, Manitobans will choose to vote for whoever they want to.”

Khan said he believes The Pas-Kameesak residents will choose PC candidate Edna Nabess. The Mathias Colomb Cree Nation elder, entrepreneur and a founding board member of Indigenous Tourism Manitoba is running to fill the seat left vacant after the March 21 death of NDP MLA Amanda Lathlin.

The NDP’s Jennifer Flett, a former vice-chief and councillor for Opaskwayak Cree Nation; the Liberals’ Dan Quesnel, a bank branch manager and former president of The Pas-Opaskwayak Cree Nation Chamber of Commerce are in the race alongside Daudrich, a Churchill tourism operator.

Khan said he’s heard from voters in The Pas-Kameesak who feel “betrayed and let down” by the NDP government.

“This government campaigned on fixing health care. It’s worse. This NDP government campaigned on growing our economy. It’s worse. This NDP party campaigned on making life more affordable. It’s worse. Families cannot get by right now,” the PC leader said.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca