Dear Fellow Manitoba PC Supporters,
We all have an important interest in ensuring our political processes are fair, equitable and absolutely democratic. If you felt that was not the case during the 2021 PC party leadership race you are not alone. It has become painfully obvious that the process and the PC Party itself need to make transparency and accountability a top priority if it wishes to restore faith and trust. Let’s face it, the voting system was badly mismanaged and vulnerable to outside manipulation - we simply cannot afford to repeat this fiasco.
Like me, I’m sure you are wondering if the party has learned from both its mistakes in managing the rushed process and the perception that the party favoured one candidate over another. It seems like they have not. It seems like instead of focusing on improving processes, party insiders are more focused on changing the rules of the game at the last minute in a way that might benefit some candidates and disadvantage others.
A number of rule changes were recently proposed and approved by the party executive, and they are asking for approval from delegates on Jan. 13, 2024, at a special meeting in Winnipeg. These rules are confusing and complicated, allocating ridings to a different number of points based on a variety of arbitrary thresholds. They seem poorly thought out and confusing, but more importantly than that, they seem like a transparent attempt to tilt the playing field at the last minute.
If the leadership rules need to be reviewed, they should be reviewed by a transparent and competent group of people outside of the context of an impending leadership race and presented to the membership with reasonable time to review. Instead, we get a rushed process over Christmas, when all PC Memberships have expired, managed by some of the same insiders who did such a poor job managing the last leadership race and the recent disastrous election campaign.
These rules 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, and ensure that memberships are legitimate and that third-party oversight is in place. Those are the issues the Party should be focused on at this time. Rather than tilting the playing field, we should focus on ensuring every vote counts.
That’s why I oppose these rule changes and encourage you to do the same.
If you would like your voice heard or would like to express your thoughts and opinions about the PC Party or the upcoming leadership contest, please feel free to respond to this email or message me on Facebook, Instagram or X. You can also renew your PC Membership here (every PC Membership has expired as of January 1st) https://pcmanitoba.com/become-a-member/ and call the PC Party to express your opinion at (204) 594-4080.
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