Debate a wasted opportunity

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/02/2025 (209 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On Wednesday night, the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party held a debate between the two candidates seeking the party’s leadership. The event was held at the Dome Building here in Brandon, and I was the moderator.

A week before the event, I was asked to serve in that role and agreed to do so. I had not met Wally Daudrich nor Obby Khan before that night, and I have never been a member of the PC Party, so I didn’t have any loyalties or conflicts of interest.

I agreed to be the debate’s moderator because it would give me an up-close insight into the intelligence and values of the two men who aspire to be the leader of the PC Party, one of whom will lead that party into the next provincial election in 2027 and challenge to become Manitoba’s next premier.

I thought that having a better understanding of the candidates’ policies, personalities, thought processes and communication skills would be helpful, as I write many opinion pieces each year regarding Manitoba political issues. As I reflect on what unfolded during the event, it’s safe to say that I received far more insight than I expected.

I have participated in approximately 20 political debates over the past several decades as a candidate, moderator or panelist. I have also helped at least 20 candidates prepare for debates over the years. All that experience has given me an insight as to how a debate is supposed to unfold.

Wednesday night’s leadership debate was unlike any other debate I have been involved in. I had never previously witnessed what I saw during that event.

As far as I know, the two candidates had never debated each other before, and Wednesday’s debate may have been the first serious political debate for each of them. That is often a problem because inexperienced political debaters often tend to be overly aggressive, too often trying to score a knockout of their opponent. In many cases, they only end up embarrassing themselves and alienating the audience.

I have often advised candidates that the goal isn’t to destroy the opponent. Rather, it should be to survive the ordeal; to communicate your positions concisely and convey a favourable impression to the audience that you are an honest person they can trust to do the job you are running for. In other words, you should try to pass the “eye test,” by looking and sounding like you’re the right person for the position.

That’s not what happened on Wednesday night. The event began with two-minute opening statements by the candidates. Daudrich spoke first and immediately attacked Khan, saying that “Ladies and gentlemen, there are two types of people in the world: talkers and doers. My friend Obby is a talker.”

That shot set the tone for much of the debate. A few minutes later, Daudrich accused Khan of failing to remove pornographic books from schools, saying that “You were approached by some of the mothers in Manitoba about pornography in the schools — pornography so egregious that it actually describes 13-, 14-, 15-year-olds … how to have sex with an animal and how to have sex with your parents. You did nothing.”

Shortly after that, Khan alleged that Daudrich was the PC Party’s top donor for 12 years and accused him of receiving “licensing permits up north under the table from the previous establishment.” A few minutes later, he appeared to accuse Daudrich of improperly providing the personal email addresses of PC Party members to an out-of-province organization that had endorsed Daudrich for leader.

In between all the insults and accusations, the candidates were asked questions about how they would rebuild their party, fight rural crime, improve the province’s health-care system, address Manitoba Hydro’s impending shortage of electricity generating capacity, and fix the failing infrastructure throughout rural areas of the province.

On most of those issues, Daudrich and Khan offered very similar solutions, meaning that they really don’t offer PC Party members as stark a policy choice as it may appear. Rather, the decision as to which leadership candidate each member chooses to vote for in the leadership contest may come down to issues of temperament, leadership style and which candidate has the ability to rebuild the party so that it can mount a credible challenge in the next provincial election.

Over the past couple of days, a number of people have asked who I thought won the debate. My answer is the NDP were the winners. The debate was an opportunity for Daudrich and Khan to introduce themselves to Manitobans and create the impression that they would be a good, competent premier.

Neither candidate did that. Daudrich dropped the gloves right from the start, and Khan allowed himself to be drawn into the brawl. They each had a chance to articulate a clear and compelling vision for Manitoba’s future, yet failed to seize that opportunity.

The video of the debate can be found at https://www.pcmanitoba.com/leadership2025. I encourage you to watch it and draw you own conclusions. The winner of the leadership contest will be announced on April 26.