Longtime Tory MLA to sit as independent

WINNIPEG — A 10-year member of the Tory caucus says he’s so fed up with his party and its leader that he’s quitting and will sit as an independent.

“This is about the residents of Dawson Trail, not necessarily even about myself,” Bob Lagassé said Tuesday after announcing in the legislature “with a bit of regret and not so much of a heavy heart” that he’s quitting the PC caucus and will seek re-election as an independent.

The MLA, known for wearing bow-ties and speaking out about men’s mental health, including his own struggles, said the findings of an ethics probe into the former PC government’s handling of the proposed Sio Silica sand mine and Leader Obby Khan’s lack of “sensitivity” were the last straws.

“These are the things that led to where this decision was made,” the MLA and father of five said in an interview.

Lagassé, who is from Landmark, represents the southeastern Manitoba constituency where residents rallied against the proposed Sio Silica sand mine over concerns that it threatened their drinking water.

After the Tories lost the election in October 2023, and before the NDP took power, three high-profile cabinet ministers tried to push the project forward. The NDP had opposed the sand mine. Then-premier Heather Stefanson and her deputy premier, Cliff Cullen, as well as the current PC MLA for Red River North, Jeff Wharton, who was economic development minister at the time, were recently found guilty of committing ethics violations because of their actions.

On Tuesday, Lagassé pointed to the ethics violation as a sore point.

“There’s no accountability when you think about it,” said Lagassé, who joined his fellow MLAs last year in unanimously voting to fine the three Tories for their part in the scandal.

“We have someone who has an ethics violation that apparently could just sit with the party as if there was no issue,” Lagasse said, referring to Wharton.

Khan, meanwhile, held him to a higher standard, he said.

“He demanded that I meet this criteria that didn’t exist for my other colleagues,” said Lagassé, who wouldn’t provide details but indicated that Khan wanted him to attend the legislature in person rather than virtually via Zoom.

“I think he was actively trying to push me out,” Lagassé said.

“The whole reason why I was on Zoom, I think you’re aware, was for my mental health,” he said.

He took issue with Khan making a “finger gun” gesture in which he pretended to shoot himself in the head during heated debate in the chamber in October.

“I was very fragile. I had just come off of basically wanting to end my life. That’s a very toxic environment to be in when you’re fragile,” Lagassé said.

Khan later apologized for the gesture that house Speaker Tom Lindsay described as “egregious.”

“There was no sensitivity around it on a larger scale, as well,” said Lagassé on Tuesday.

In response to his colleague’s bombshell news, Khan said he wished the MLA well and wouldn’t comment on his decision to quit the PC caucus.

Khan wouldn’t say who’s to blame for Lagassé’s departure, which reduces the number of PCs to 20 from the 21 members who were elected in 2023.

“Bob and I have had a few conversations on a whole, wide plethora of topics and those are conversations between him and I,” Khan told reporters after question period.

“I look forward to getting out and finding representation in Dawson Trail and we’ve had a lot of great people come and support us over the years …”

Lagassé said his constituency association executives have left the PC party, too.

“We are election-ready,” he said. “My whole team that I’ve had from Day 1 is still with me … We’ll have our volunteers and all those guys that come along with it.”

He said the party system “is quite harmful” because members on both sides are expected to toe the party line even if it goes against their constituents’ best interests.

“I think Manitoba is ready for normal people that don’t have business interests, that are going in to help.”

He said his decision to part ways with the PC party crystallized on the weekend.

“What happened Sunday, I’m not talking about it with any media outlets right now, just because I feel that it’s going to take away from what needs to be heard — that we have an issue right now with the way that the legislative assembly is running and we need to work for the people of Manitoba.”

Lagassé joins former NDP MLA Mark Wasyliw (Fort Garry), who was kicked out of caucus, and MLA Cindy Lamoureux (Tyndall Park), whose Liberals didn’t win enough seats for party status, in sitting as independents.

Premier Wab Kinew thanked Lagassé for his contributions to the legislature and said that his New Democrats hope to pick up his seat and others in the election that must be held on or by Oct. 5, 2027.

“Communities like Lorette and the rest of Dawson Trail — you have a government that’s building hockey rinks in your constituency,” Kinew said at an unrelated event.

“You have a government that said no to the Sio Silica project. You have a government that’s serious about rural health care — so come on over.”

Lagassé may have been motivated by the poor standing of the PC party and its leader, said Paul Thomas, the University of Manitoba political studies professor emeritus.

“The party has a huge amount of work to do in rebuilding its organizational capacity to plan and run a general election campaign.”

Veteran MLAs Kelvin Goertzen (Steinbach), Ron Schuler (Springfield-Ritchot) and Doyle Piwniuk (Turtle Mountain) have announced they won’t seek re-election.

Last week, Selkirk PC MLA Richard Perchotte announced he won’t seek re-election and is leaving politics altogether.

Thomas said that “suggests that there is not a feeling of engagement and satisfaction among backbenchers with how the caucus is being managed by the leader and his office.”

Lagassé’s chances of winning re-election as an independent are slim, said Thomas.

“Independents generally do not fare well in elections,” he said. “Most votes are cast for leaders and parties, not for individual candidates.”

» Winnipeg Free Press, with files from Gabrielle Piché