The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The Manitoba PC Party has called a leadership vote for April 29. This comes after a vote at the party's annual meeting that did not give Stuart Murray enough support. He resigned and asked for a leadership vote. Unlike leadership conventions of the past, this one will feature one member, one vote Ð not votes by elected delegates. If a candidate doesn't get 50 per cent plus one, a run-off vote will be held the following week. Want to vote? Just get a PC membership and vote in your constituency, or go to the convention in Winnipeg. No candidates have formally declared at this writing, but they will now that the federal election is over. A number have been phoning around to see if they have support among the membership. My favourite is Springfield MLA Ron Schuler, who was PC Youth President when I was Party President. Intensely loyal to the party, Ron has been elected twice in his constituency, and before that was chairman of the River East School Board. He is a very scrappy and aggressive member, not afraid to take on any of Gary Doer's ministers or the Premier himself. Leadership contests are supposed to be exciting events that (hopefully) grab the attention of the public, regardless of which party is involved. They are supposed to be especially thrilling for those taking part. Contests in the past were that way, as party members elected delegates/alternates to vote for them. The delegates were then wooed, wined and dined by the candidates, many of whom had packed the delegate selection meetings to get their supporters elected. A good example was a 1968 meeting of Dauphin Conservatives, where local leadership candidate Stewart McLean nominated most of the delegates. In neutral constituencies, candidates and their supporters would round up supporters and distribute lists of whom to vote for to the members present. It was all designed to get more delegates for your guy than for the others. The first leadership contest this writer attended was the Centennial-year contest to replace John Diefenbaker. There were lots of candidates, most high profile, and the Toronto convention couldn't have been more exciting for the delegates. A number of us attended as Diefenbaker supporters but were under pressure from the Duff Roblin camp, as Duff had resigned as Manitoba Premier to join Robert Stanfield, Premier of Nova Scotia, in the race. All the candidates except Dief wined and dined the delegates, so much so that many of us began to avoid the high pressure receptions. We all know that Stanfield won over Roblin. He became known as the "best Prime Minister Canada never had." The next year was the contest to replace Roblin. It featured four powerful cabinet ministers Ð Sterling Lyon, Walter Weir, George Johnson, and, my favourite, Stewart McLean Ð all seeking the Premier's chair. The contest was quite civil with Weir surprisingly winning over Lyon. As we all know, new Premier Weir surprisingly and foolishly called a snap election, which he lost to Ed Schreyer and the NDP. Sidney Spivak replaced Weir as Tory leader, but he was too left-wing for the party and, after losing an election to Shreyer, was replaced by Lyon, who beat the NDP in 1977 but lost after one term. Gary Filmon defeated Brian Ransom in the next delegate leadership contest, a bitterly fought race. It was the last one held by the party and most likely the last one held under the system of electing delegates to vote for the membership. By the way it is readily apparent that the PC Party doesn't stick with leaders that lose an election, unlike the NDP. Gary Filmon beat Gary Doer three times in a row, but there was little talk of Doer being replaced, although he did indicate he would step down if he lost in 1999. A number of years ago most parties investigated and moved to the more democratic one member, one vote system. Alberta did it first when Ralph Klein was elected leader. The new system is hard for the "backroom boys" to control and gives the control to the membership. The only problem is that it lacks the excitement and drama of a leadership convention and generates less interest and publicity. All parties who use this system are seeking ways to increase the drama and make it more exciting for the public, but it is difficult. Let's see if the Manitoba Tories can find a way.
