Manitoba Liberals to charge fee at leadership convention

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This article was published 20/08/2017 (3133 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Liberals plan to charge a $15 fee to every member who attends the party’s Oct. 21 leadership convention, provincial director of operations Sam Dixon said Friday.

The fee was approved by the board months ago, as was a $5 admission fee for anyone attending a leadership candidates debate, he said.

Calling it an absurdity and a poll tax, veteran backroom Liberal Robert Drummond said Friday he’d only heard about the convention fee recently from three sources, including Winnipeg North MP Kevin Lamoureux.

Rank-and-file party members are unaware it will cost $15 to be at the convention, he said.

“This, in my opinion, is just insulting,” said Drummond, a longtime party member who was campaign manager in the Maples in the 2016 provincial election. “A board member told me they’ll be voting on it.”

Not so, Dixon said.

“There is, and has been from the outset, a convention fee and fees for debates that was approved by the board Jan. 23, 2017, and is not before the board, as it was already passed,” he said. “It is cost-recovery.”

Same with the $5 debate fee, he said. “We do livestream, so anyone who actually can’t afford $5 can watch, and they are allowed to submit questions online.”

Lamoureux said he prefers to concentrate on his daughter Cindy Lamoureux’s leadership campaign, which he called positive and upbeat, rather than talk about fees.

“I don’t know to what degree it is public. That information is meant to be used internally, within the campaign,” he said Friday. “We abide by what the party rules are. Different people might react in a different way.”

Cindy Lamoureux said in an email Friday she was aware of the reports of a fee, but wouldn’t comment on it.

“I am choosing to remain focused, and that means keeping my eye on the prize, accepting the challenge and winning the leadership,” said the MLA for Burrows.

She and candidate Dougald Lamont referred inquiries about fees to the party. The third candidate, River Heights MLA Jon Gerrard, had not responded to a request for comment.

Dixon said the convention will be held at the Victoria Inn in Winnipeg, and the agenda and plan for candidates’ speeches was undetermined.

The candidates will speak at the annual leader’s dinner Sept. 21. The party is still lining up a candidates debate to be held in Winnipeg in mid-September.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca