Manitoba PC’s Ponder Path Forward


After two episodes about newsmaking doctors in Winnipeg and Victoria, and an ActionLine report about an antisemitic dentist, for the first time in 2024 we pivot to politics. Listen to our diagnosis of the issues in play for Manitoba Progressive Conservatives this weekend, as they sort out how to select a new leader.

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9:11 Part 2 The analysis starts with a disgruntled print columnist who maintained that how a new leader gets chosen, is less important than the policy direction Tories will go.

That’s putting the cart before the horse.

It’s also a ploy to manufacture a choice for Manitoba voters between 2 left-wing parties, and freeze out traditional and ethnic conservatives.

The argument was invoked how the federal Conservative Party are “attacking institutions such as the Bank of Canada, the intelligence community and mainstream media”.

Marty explains the typical gatekeepers complaint- that no one should allow discussions about the avalanche of failures from those sources – which includes the entry of foreign terrorist groups into Canada.

When you see a commentator claiming that the popularity of Pierre Poilievre is based on “demonizing progressive ideas as ‘woke,’ and providing a forum for socially conservative views”, that’s someone in fear of their employer losing their Trudough after the next federal election.

Another columnist demeaned conservatives who oppose carbon taxes and question whether Canada should remain in the Hamas-enabling United Nations – as though those beliefs don’t represent thoughtful, concerned viewpoints. Instead, some pundits want the PC’s to become NDP-Lite.

27.00 Hear what former MLA Kevin Klein believes: the most important decision is to restore trust in the way memberships are granted and ballots are counted. He cites the alienation of reliable Tory voters after the Pallister/Stefanson transition, which we’ve mentioned on previous podcasts.

In an open letter, Klein decried the proposed voting process put forward as “confusing and complicated, allocating ridings to a different number of points based on a variety of arbitrary thresholds… poorly thought out and confusing… they seem like a transparent attempt to tilt the playing field at the last minute.”

He insisted the proposed rules members are to vote on this Saturday “do nothing to restore members’ lost trust in the party, ensure that ballots will be accurately issued and collected with adequate time to count them, ensure that memberships are legitimate, and ensure that third-party oversight is in place.”

Klein wrote, “Rather than tilting the playing field, we should focus on ensuring every vote counts.”

That got a very public reaction from a long-time MLA.

31:23 Part 3- Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen tweeted, “In general, although not without reservation, I support the

weighted riding system that has been put forward by an internal PC party review.”

In a rebuke to Klein, he added, “I am NOT open (to) suggestions that the proposal was put forward specifically to benefit the candidacy of some over others.”

Goertzen lamented that “we are losing the ability to disagree with people and ideas without having to lean on the crutch of a political conspiracy or dark forces at play.”

You’ll hear about another well-known party figure who disagreed with Goertzen but was not quite agreeing with Klein.

Hear why Braydon Mazurkiewich was thumbs down on the proposed rules, and his idea of a third option for the voting process.

The analysis ends with Marty’s considered opinion, having followed politics since the days of Premier Walter Weir, on how votes should be counted for a new leader.

But he’s not a member and it’s just an outsider’s opinion.

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