Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION
Manitobans may soon have another choice at the ballot box in the next provincial election.
But exactly what that choice will look like is a matter of some debate.
Both the Winnipeg Sun and the Winnipeg Free Press reported recently that a group of about 30 to 40 people — some of whom are former elected officials — are mobilizing a new political force under the name Manitoba Forward.
While the Free Press has attached the Manitoba Party moniker to the new entity, it’s not yet clear whether this is the group’s preferred title or not.
Even before this new party even has a solid name, however, armchair critics are already mocking its creation as just a regrouping of right-leaning politicians who are disgruntled with the apparent inability of the Progressive Conservatives to unseat the provincial NDP.
Yet based on the news reports, this proposed new party would offer a “big tent” for the province’s Liberals, Greens and Tories. Based on its stated principles, though, it has a decidedly fiscal conservative tone.
As the Free Press reported, these 10 principles include doing away with “right versus left” distinctions, and a commitment to “honest, transparent, efficient, accountable and fiscally responsible” government.
The group also suggests a provincial government should support Manitobans who are able to “achieve great self-sufficiency” and look after the interests of future generations rather than running up large deficits and debts.
While these are not new talking points — the Tories have been saying these things for years — we find the group’s commitment to “choice, experimentation and innovation” a refreshing change of message from the usual political discourse in this province.
There are plenty of unanswered questions about this new political entity, but it seems clear that its members feel a need to unite under one banner to unseat the long-in-the-tooth NDP government.
Creating a new political party that would draw supporters from all opposition parties certainly raises the spectre of vote splitting, a further splintering of the remaining 55 per cent of the popular vote not captured by the NDP in the last election.
But the history of Saskatchewan politics — where these trailblazers are taking much of their inspiration — shows it doesn’t have to happen this way.
Case in point, the Saskatchewan Party, which was born in 1997 out of a coalition of folks from that province’s scandal-plagued Progressive Conservatives, as well as Liberal party members and supporters. Much like their Manitoba cousins in Manitoba Forward, the fledgling Saskatchewan Party also wished to unseat the dominant NDP.
Since then, the Saskatchewan Tories and Liberals have been pushed to the sidelines, while the Saskatchewan Party has formed two successive and successful governments under Premier Brad Wall.
Unlike Saskatchewan, however, Manitoba’s Progressive Conservatives have life left in them still and they have not fallen prey to heavy scandal. With a new leader under Brian Pallister, they may yet have a chance to form government. But Pallister’s connections to the hard right policies of the federal Conservative party and former Reform party may also hurt those chances, especially in Winnipeg.
Meanwhile, Manitoba Liberals and the Green party remain hapless as political forces.
For moderate voters, the creation of a new centrist party that would offer a fiscally responsible and innovative alternative to the labour-friendly NDP and right-wing Tories could be the most interesting thing to happen to Manitoba politics in years.
Time to shake things up.
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition September 17, 2012
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Manitobans may soon have another choice at the ballot box in the next provincial election.
But exactly what that choice will look like is a matter of some debate.
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Manitobans may soon have another choice at the ballot box in the next provincial election.
But exactly what that choice will look like is a matter of some debate.
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Posted by:Bill the Needle
September 17, 2012 at 5:57 PM
MB liberals have been on ice for 40 years, the Tories for 12.
This is a refreshing idea.
Selinger a prince....not.
Posted by:Deborah Boschman
September 17, 2012 at 9:41 AM
No kidding, it is time!
I hope that the two former politicians that I spoke to on Highway 16 near Gladstone are or will also be part of this new political party.
They are just two of the many disgruntled former MLA's and former local politicians across our province who would like to see some significant changes occur now.
I believe that Premier Greg Selinger is a prince of a man as an individual but I also would like to desperately see some NEW IDEAS, new approaches, new things happen and occur across and within our province.
It is TIME for this to occur now and it is also TIME to offer Premier Selinger a REAL exciting CHALLENGE within this next election.
It is TIME for something new, fresh, inspirational, innovative, transparent; for new ideas, for new and fresh approaches, for greater fiscal and social responsibility, prudence, etc.
This is VERY exciting news indeed!
Many of us are VERY interested in this new political party.
GO, MANITOBA FORWARD, GO!