With Premier Brian Pallister’s notice that he's stepping down from party leadership, there’s going to be an election in the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba. The party announced early this week the date is Oct. 30 when PC members will elect a new leader who also becomes Manitoba’s premier.
Shelly Glover, a former federal MP and a retired Winnipeg police officer, is the second person to announce she’s running for the leadership the provincial party.
Last week MLA Heather Stephenson announced her candidacy for leadership, which came with the endorsement of two thirds of the MLAs.
By Sept. 15 all potential candidates will have been approved, paid up and in the race.
Most recently, Shannon Martin, a member of the Manitoba legislature since 2014, has declared his intention to run and bring the party back to its grass roots. He is currently the MLA for McPhillips riding within Winnipeg.
Greg Nesbitt, MLA for Riding Mountain constituency which includes the Virden area was noticeably absent from the list, with reason.
“I am staying neutral on the campaign. I serve as Caucus Chair and I am also a member on the PC Board of Manitoba.”
He says he may be called upon to serve on the leadership convention committee, so he’s taking no sides. “Publicly, I won’t be speaking about any of the candidates.”
Nesbitt says, “It’s an exciting time. It’s a chance for the party to re-invent itself.”
He says that Pallister has shown great leadership. He notes that the last few months haven’t been kind to the premier. Nesbitt says it was a tough time to work in public office.
“I have nothing but respect for Brian Pallister. It didn’t matter what you said, 50 per cent liked it, 50 per cent hated it. I think history will judge what we’ve done under the five years of his leadership and I think history will be kind to him.”
Meanwhile, the election date for a new leader remains unknown and Pallister has more to do.
House leader Kelvin Goertzen and anyone who expects to be on the election committee will not be speaking for candidates either.
The new leader will be selected by a one member, one vote ballot. Anyone who purchases a membership by Sept. 30 can vote.
