2021 a turbulent year for PCs

Opinion

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This article was published 27/12/2021 (1101 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If former premier Brian Pallister was planning to retire from politics before the next provincial election, the COVID-19 pandemic — or perhaps his handling of it — hastened his decision in 2021.

It was a dramatic year in provincial politics, one that included the sudden departure of a premier, but also the swearing in of Manitoba’s first female premier.

Speculation began before the pandemic that Mr. Pallister might be looking to serve two short terms before calling it quits prior to a scheduled election in October 2023.

If Mr. Pallister did have a retirement timeline in mind, the pandemic changed it this year.

COVID-19 has not been kind to most political leaders in Canada. However, it was particularly punishing to Mr. Pallister, whose abrasive and autocratic leadership style did not lend itself well to governing during a public health emergency.

Nowhere was that more pronounced — nor were the consequences more severe — than in May when Mr. Pallister refused to heed the advice of medical experts who urged government to take more drastic action against a rapidly spreading Delta variant.

It was a turning point in the final chapter of Mr. Pallister’s political career. Within weeks, hospitals were overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, forcing health officials to airlift dozens of them to other provinces for treatment.

Mr. Pallister’s approval rating was already on the decline, owing to a string of pandemic blunders and a myriad of policy proposals that were out of sync with many Manitobans, including government’s controversial plan to eliminate English-speaking school boards (which has since been shelved). The failure to act during the third wave of the pandemic was the final nail in Mr. Pallister’s coffin.

By June, the Progressive Conservative party dropped to an all-time low of 29 per cent support in a Winnipeg Free Press/Probe Research public opinion poll. With a political comeback out of reach, Mr. Pallister — who eight months earlier vowed to stay on at least until the end of the pandemic — announced his resignation Aug. 10, an abrupt exit that left the PC party scrambling to organize a leadership convention.

The party’s handling of that contest was mired in controversy from the start. Its refusal to allow adequate time for potential candidates to mobilize support and organize their campaigns drew accusations that party officials were attempting to coronate Tory MLA Heather Stefanson, who entered the leadership race only a week after Mr. Pallister’s announcement. With Tory MLA Kelvin Goertzen installed as interim leader and premier, there was no need for an accelerated leadership process. Mr. Goertzen was widely praised for his capable and even-handed approach to the job and could have stayed on longer if required. There was little doubt the rushed timeline discouraged others from entering the race.

Former Conservative MP Shelly Glover injected competition into the leadership contest. The former Winnipeg Police Service officer announced her candidacy a week after Ms. Stefanson. However, her opposition to COVID-19 vaccine mandates and her attempt to appeal to anti-vaccine voters cast a pall over her campaign.

Ms. Glover ultimately lost the contest, but came within a whisker of defeating her opponent, winning 49 per cent of the vote to Ms. Stefanson’s 51 per cent. The drama did not end there. Ms. Glover refused to concede and claimed there were irregularities in how ballots were counted. She took her fight to court and lost, but not before the party was faced with another public relations setback.

There was no evidence ballots were tampered with as alleged, court ruled. Nevertheless, the rushed timeline of the leadership race and the manner in which it ended — coupled with Mr. Pallister’s clumsy handling of the pandemic — did not make 2021 a stellar year for Manitoba’s PC party.