Political direction bigger issue than leadership process for Manitoba Tories

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/01/2024 (610 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

No matter which process Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative party picks to select its next leader, the most important decision it will have to make is what political direction the party plans to take into the next provincial election.

PC delegates are scheduled to vote Saturday on changes to the party’s constitution, including rules around how it will elect its new leader. The party came within a whisker of electing former Conservative MP Shelly Glover during the last leadership race in 2021 to replace former leader and premier Brian Pallister. Glover ran largely on an anti-vaccine platform and was seen to be pandering to an extremist segment of Manitobans, some of whom she signed up as new party members.

Party brass are now considering changes to the one-member, one-vote system to prevent that from happening again. A proposed points-based system is seen by some as a way of limiting a candidate’s ability to sign up scores of so-called outsiders who could hijack the political direction of the party.

If approved, it may achieve that objective, at least to some degree. But the bigger question party members will have to ask themselves is what brand of politics Manitoba’s PCs should embrace going forward.

The Tories may not have been hijacked by an extremist leader following the 2021 leadership race (Glover lost by only 363 votes), but the party did get overtaken by political operatives with hateful views who ran the 2023 provincial election campaign.

During the campaign, the PCs exploited the issue of whether to search the Prairie Green Landfill, where the remains of slain First Nations women are believed to be buried, used racist tactics to attack NDP Leader Wab Kinew and proposed a deep tax-cut scheme that would have forced government to make sweeping cuts to program spending.

The extreme approach alienated voters in Winnipeg, where the party was nearly wiped off the electoral map.

Is this the direction the Tories plan to take into the next election, scheduled for October 2027? If not, who in the party — including sitting MLAs — plans to take a stand against it?

So far, few party brass or members of the PC caucus have spoken out against the tactics used during the last election. But eventually, party members, constituency associations and Tory MLAs will have to come clean on where they think they should be headed.

The conservative movement at the federal level has taken a sharp turn to the political right. The Conservatives, led by Pierre Poilievre, have embraced the tactics of former U.S. president Donald Trump by attacking institutions such as the Bank of Canada, the intelligence community and mainstream media, demonizing progressive ideas as “woke,” and providing a forum for socially conservative views within the party’s ranks.

The Conservatives are finding success in public opinion polls with that approach — for now. But it’s largely owing to the demise of the federal Liberal party and its leader, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as the inevitable expiry date all sitting governments face.

The decision Manitoba PC party members have to make is whether they want to follow the federal Conservatives’ path or carve out a more moderate one better suited to the local political landscape.

Choosing their next leader will be a big part of that.

It’s unclear who will be vying for the position. Former Tory cabinet minister Kevin Klein is interested in the job. Obby Khan, the MLA for Fort Whyte, could take a stab at it.

But what has yet to occur is an extensive public debate among party members and possible leadership contenders as to what political direction the Tories should take.

That’s important as society tackles difficult social and economic issues such as poverty, addictions, mental health, climate change, public health, Indigenous rights and reconciliation and gender identity. Where do the Manitoba Tories stand on these issues? Will they choose the Conservatives’ path and the one taken during the last provincial election campaign? Or will they present voters with a more progressive brand of politics (they are, after all, members of the “Progressive” Conservative party) that rejects that kind of hatred and intolerance?

These are critical decisions party brass and grassroots members will have to make when they select their next leader, no matter what process they choose this weekend.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca