Heather Stefanson grinds out a win in a Manitoba management race few anticipated to be shut

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From the second she disclosed her want to steer Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative Occasion, premier-designate Heather Stefanson did all the pieces in her energy to make her victory seem inevitable.

She launched her marketing campaign in August, earlier than the occasion cobbled collectively guidelines for its management contest. She declared her intention to run earlier than different MLAs with management ambitions even had an opportunity to canvass their occasion colleagues for help.

She appeared at her marketing campaign launch on Aug. 18 with a majority of the present Progressive Conservative Occasion caucus lined up at her aspect. She had allies on the occasion’s government council that set contest timelines so quick that they successfully prevented Conservative MPs from lining up in opposition to her.

The message, to anybody else who toyed with the concept of working for PC chief, was clear: run in opposition to me and you’ll be crushed like a cankerworm beneath the wheels of a Chevy Suburban.

However that pulverizing by no means occurred. Ten weeks after Stefanson held her show-of-force marketing campaign launch, the occasion’s citizens handed her a razor-thin victory which will but be contested additional by her rival, Shelly Glover.

WATCH | Glover ‘must do the homework’ earlier than she concedes:

Shelly Glover will not say if she’ll concede PC management race

In a scrum after the vote depend, Shelly Glover would not say whether or not she’ll settle for or problem the outcomes of the PC Management Race after she misplaced by a slim margin. 0:26

Stefanson defeated Glover by a margin of 363 votes. She captured 8,405 ballots, in comparison with 8,042 for Glover.

That works out to a 51-per-cent majority in a race the place Stefanson was anticipated to win by a decisive margin, primarily by advantage of her help from the occasion institution.

Stefanson made few marketing campaign guarantees, other than pledges to enhance the connection between the federal government and Indigenous individuals, improve health-care capability and be a greater listener than former premier Brian Pallister, who was extensively considered insular and standoffish.

Glover, a relative outsider, made related guarantees, but additionally made some overtures to a right-wing flank of the occasion that opposes pandemic restrictions.

“The hole was very shut,” Stefanson mentioned Saturday evening in a ballroom at Winnipeg’s Victoria Inn, the place the occasion held a scaled-down management conference. “We by no means, ever for at some point took this marketing campaign without any consideration.”

And the marketing campaign isn’t over but.

Glover declined to concede defeat on Saturday, citing the lack of some occasion members to acquire a poll.

On Thursday, the previous Conservative MP referred to as for the vote to be delay till each member had an opportunity to vote. She additionally wouldn’t say if she would settle for the outcomes on the conference.

So it wasn’t a lot of a shock when Glover adopted via on that equivocation with an equally imprecise refusal Saturday to both concede defeat or problem the outcomes of the management choice course of.

“I actually cannot concede, proper, till I do the homework, and it’s typical that when there’s a shut race that there are specific guidelines and rules that apply about recounts and that sort of factor, and I truthfully do not even know what the principles are,” Glover instructed reporters in a scrum.

“I would love to have the ability to say, ‘Oh, sure, I concede proper now,’ however I haven’t got the data that enables me to try this and I need to do my homework on that.”

Glover mentioned she plans to debrief along with her marketing campaign group.

The Progressive Conservative Occasion appeared to disregard the prospect of a proper problem when it was requested to touch upon Glover’s refusal to concede defeat.

“Heather Stefanson and Shelly Glover needs to be congratulated on well-run and hard-fought campaigns,” occasion spokesperson Keith Stewart mentioned in a press release. 

“Historical past was made in the present day with the election of Manitoba’s first girl premier and probably the most votes ever forged by members of a provincial occasion to elect a brand new chief.”

This too isn’t a shock. Earlier than occasion president Tom Wiebe introduced the outcomes, management choice committee chair George Orle took the stage to reject the notion the race was carried out shoddily.

Orle insisted each effort was made to make sure occasion members had been capable of vote. However he additionally conceded some ballots didn’t get to members.

This implies some foundation for a Glover protest, ought to she select to contest the outcomes. She has little to lose in doing so, past incomes unflattering comparisons to U.S. Republicans following the 2020 presidential election.

Stefanson, proper, greets opponent Shelly Glover on the occasion conference at Winnipeg’s Victoria Inn. (John Woods/The Canadian Press)

The prospect of some type of detente between Glover and Stefanson seems dim, although Stefanson mentioned she would entertain the concept of making a job for her opponent in authorities,

“I simply went and gave Shelly Glover a giant hug. You already know, we will unite this occasion collectively,” Stefanson mentioned.

Glover mentioned the hug was her concept. She additionally mentioned she has just one place in thoughts in a Stefanson authorities.

“Premier,” Glover mentioned, eliciting laughter from reporters.

There additionally usually are not many positions accessible in authorities for a politician with out a seat.

The vacant seat in Fort Whyte, left open when former premier Brian Pallister left workplace, could also be topic to an open nomination course of.

There’s already a possible contender in former Winnipeg Blue Bomber Obby Khan, who endorsed Stefanson’s management marketing campaign. On Friday, Khan mentioned he intends to pursue some type of public service, after he was requested whether or not he intends to hunt the Fort Whyte nomination.

It doesn’t matter what Glover does subsequent, she has already succeeded in doing one thing that appeared unbelievable 10 weeks in the past.

She denied Heather Stefanson a straightforward path to victory.

WATCH | ‘Welcome to the brand new PC Occasion of Manitoba’:

‘Welcome to the brand new PC Occasion of Manitoba’

Heather Stefanson was elected the primary feminine premier by a slim margin on Saturday. 0:56

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