The Rural Element in the Manitoba PC Leadership Race

After weeks of speculation, Premier Brian Pallister called a press conference on Tuesday to announce he would not be seeking re-election. The announcement fell short of being a resignation, but he made his intent to step down as leader of the party clear in a letter sent to Tom Wiebe, president of the PC Party of Manitoba, which has been shared on the party’s Twitter account.

In this episode of Coffee Chat, we sat down with Ken Waddell, a former mayor of Neepawa who himself stood as candidate for leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba in 2006. (Disclosure - Ken is also the station manager of NACTV).

He took us through the next steps now that this announcement has been made, including details of the actual process through which the new leader is selected. He also discussed how the PC Party and the provincial government have served rural Manitobans over the past couple of decades.

“At its lowest ebb, the party had 18 or 19 seats, and probably 12 or 14 of them were rural,” said Waddell. “Even the rural MLAs … were hellbent that they had to have a leader from Winnipeg. … It shouldn’t matter whether you’re from Churchill or Boissevain or Winnipeg or Brandon to be the premier of the province. But they make it something that does matter.”

In discussing how rural candidates are often dismissed and rural expertise in fields such as media, business, and industry are overlooked, Waddell added, “I think that there is that urban-rural divide or urban-rural myth and it’s very unfortunate. The chances of getting a rural leader of any party is very, very slim because of that.”

Pallister’s announcement was preceded by the high-profile resignation of Eileen Clarke from her cabinet position as Minister of Indigenous and Northern Relations in July. In a statement on Facebook, Clarke indicated that Pallister’s leadership and controversial remarks were primary factors in her decision.

When asked if Clarke’s resignation influenced Pallister’s decision, Waddell said, “I think that that probably was a factor. There are other factors … he has been in public office pretty much continually since 1992 which is 29 years.” Pallister’s approval rating had also been trending low for some time, sitting at just 33% according to the latest Angus Reid poll.

Clarke continues to be the MLA for the Agassiz Constituency, which encompasses the communities of Neepawa, Gladstone, Carberry, Sandy Bay, and many others. She was considered by many to be a frontrunner to replace Pallister, but she has already stated she will not be seeking the leadership position at this time.

There has been no indication yet as to the timeline for the PC Party of Manitoba’s leadership race. The next Manitoba provincial election will be held in the fall of 2023.