MCLAUGHLIN: PC Party of Manitoba needs to rebuild trust to avoid political oblivion

Article content

When parties lose elections, the immediate question is: “Who will be the next leader?”

Article content

In the wake of an atrocious campaign, a devastating by-election loss in a once safe seat, and questionable campaign spending and practices — members of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba need to ask themselves another question: “Who will be our next president?”

If the PC Party of Manitoba does not transform itself with an internal governance and cultural rebranding, it risks finding itself on the outside of government looking in for a long while yet.

When a party has lost its moral and political compass, it is abundantly clear that the party’s culture and management are in need of change, not only the leader.

Over the past few years, party and campaign decision-making that was outsourced to campaign and party operatives that lacked necessary accountability and oversight, is now being revealed. Aided by inept leadership and abetted by a complacent, compliant caucus and party executive — the results speak for themselves.

Article content

Article content

Why would any PC member or donor wish to continue with this losing way of doing business?

Internal reviews of the campaign now underway will be worthless to the future of the party if they do not acknowledge and exorcise an old-style, comfortable establishment culture and management that now prevails. It is the long, hard work of on-the-ground organization and engagement that win elections, not some magic elixir of insider connections, imagined past successes, and polling stardust.

If the PC Party of Manitoba is to find its way back to power, it must first confront the glaring leadership and management vacuum at its centre that enabled the current situation to occur in the first place and will keep holding it back. It will have to entice committed people to run for president and key board roles who are willing to give the volunteer time and energy to rebuild a professional winning ethos that has gone AWOL.

Article content

In Britain, the new Labour Party prime minister, Keir Starmer, won his party’s first election in 19 years having built his campaign credibility around this one mantra: “Change Labour, Change Britain”. He knew that his party had become captive of special interests and was viewed by much of the electorate as morally corrupt and riven by self-interest. To win back power, he had to change his party first — internally and externally — and regain voters’ trust.

It is increasingly clear that the Manitoba PCs will need to do the same. After all, If the party is not trusted by the public and its own members, how can its leader and candidates for public office be trusted?

This begins with choosing a strong president and board who are willing to stand up and represent the membership and the integrity of the party to the leader and caucus, not just the other way around.

Article content

Political parties are central to democratic life in Manitoba and Canada. Through them we select our leaders and governments. They are the engines of civic mobilization based on shared political principles and policy outlooks. We take them for granted at our democratic peril.

Voters need strong, vital parties that brim with ideas and integrity if they are to vote for them. Leaders and MLAs need an engaged party membership with the team spirit and organization inside to win elections.

We are long past the time when political parties could act as private clubs. Subsidized with taxpayer dollars, parties have no choice but to be open and accountable to the public and its members.

Branding is central to political success. Your brand isn’t what you say it is, however, it’s what voters decide it is.

The risk is not temporary political embarrassment but permanent political oblivion. At least ten different parties at the federal and provincial levels have disappeared this century alone. To the public, what’s one more?

— David McLaughlin was campaign manager for the PC Party of Manitoba in 2016 and 2019.

Have thoughts on what’s going on in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada or across the world? Send us a letter to the editor at wpgsun.letters@kleinmedia.ca

Article content