Pallister Wins Second Term; How PC Numbers Have Changed Since 2011

With the return of Premier Brian Pallister to the helm of the province, the progressive left in its various forms fell far short of their hopes on election night in Manitoba, and a realignment is inevitable. 

Since 2011, the Progressive Conservatives have only increased its share of the popular vote by 3.36% to 47.07%, but has distributed votes to almost double the seats held, from 19 to 36. 
The NDP, which ruled the roost that year with 46.16% and 37 seats, have fallen to 31.38 percent of voter support, their seats cut by more than half to 18. Trying to halve that 15 point gap is the next step up the ladder. 

Former Premier Gary Filmon tells about the one that got away

As long as Wab Kinew can only attract 23% or so of voters outside Winnipeg, the NDP will never regain the seat of power. And by 2024, the term "FILMON" will be long put to rest, once and for all, as a dogwhistle to attack conservatives. 

While the Winnipeg Free Press framed the Kinew speech as "Despite election defeat, NDP does victory lap", the victory was over the other left wing opposition parties. The Tories were barely dented by Kinew, with none of the Winnipeg seats grabbed from the PC's qualifying as a total surprise. 

It was no secret backbencher Blair Yakimoski was in a tough fight in Transcona to retain, and in swing seat St. Vital, Jamie Moses was a persisent presence in the riding and decisively avenged his 2016 loss to Colleen Mayer. 

In my view, redistribution made St. James a tough but expected lost seat for the PC's.  If anything, the NDP failure to win the newly created McPhillips constituency in the north end of the city, where the Seven Oaks Hospital is located, was more surprising, as PC MLA Shannon Martin parachuted in and eeked out a return to the Legislature.

The prospects for the other two opposition parties dimmed greatly despite earlier polling which demonstrated the very definition of "parking their vote". After dislodging the volatile Rana Bokhari as Liberal leader, Dougald Lamont didn't move the dial beyond a .08% increase in electoral support in a disappointing result. He, Dr. Jon Gerrard in River Heights, and Cindy Lamoureaux (relocated to Tyndal Park), return to Broadway but the Libs fell short of official Party status.

Premier Pallister assured Audrey Gordon her
slim margin of victory in Southdale didn't bother him

Lamont waffled to the left with scads of climate change pronouncements trying to stem leakage to the Green Party, and made spending promises that even made socialists blush. In the process attracted only 5005 more votes and failed to hold a 4th seat and retain party status. 
The scant economic policy didn't chip into Tory support, and the ground game simply didn't materialize. I suspect the Trudeau government's scandals made even considering a checkmark beside a candidate labeled Liberal a no-go for more than a few voters. 

As for the Manitoba Green Party, support for leader James Beddome in Fort Rouge was tripled by Kinew, and the Party failed to close a 392 vote gap in Wolseley and saw it grow to 917, and out of reach, for David Nickarz. The Green wave is D-O-A here, and in his speech Kinew already promoted that progressive left is spelled N-D-P in this province. It's too bad because voters need more candidates with more new ideas, not less.

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Premier Pallister was working the room sharing the thrill of victory around 11 PM and when he noticed me, laughingly remarking how after all these years (we first met in 1993) "we're getting better with age!" 

"Mazel Tov! Hey, I want to get a 30 minute interview with you sometime." Immediately I got the infamous Pallister steely glare. "No." I figured he was joking so I said, "OK, 20 minutes then!"

"No. You, and Bartley Kives," he said. 

Instantly he burst out laughing at the look on my face, reached down, grabbed and shook my hand some more and said "AWWWW I'm just joshing with you, of course we can!"

He conceded after the win that the biggest take-away is that his government needs to do a better job of listening, and I will hold them to that. There are a number of issues that I covered during the election that may not matter to MSM, but do to my audience.

I would ask Premier Pallister about construction contract corruption strangling Manitoba-based trades, and why accountability for the engineering profession has deteriorated under the revised Act to the point they act like a protection racket. And more:

* Will he curtail the WRHA continuing to pump out 2 million "harm reduction" needles for meth addicts with no responsibility to deal with the impact of discarded used rigs in the community? What about the meth detox unit proposal of Morberg House that has so much support from politicians of all stripes, including two members of his own caucus?

* Will loopholes in the candidate disclosure law (ie Garnishment Orders, and by the way the list is up to 4 NDP'ers now) be closed? 

* And not that it was an election issue, but the antique City of Winnipeg Act is a problem every week at City Hall - if there's changes to come, your voice needs to be heard.

Those are on the kitchen table, so to speak, of my audience.
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Meth Detox Proposal For 800 Adele Gets Support From All Opposition Parties At Town Hall

St. Boniface Street Links election town hall on addictions and crime policy saw widespread agreement on most issues, with slight variations on how to effect solutions, but unanimous interest in a proposal by the host organization to repurpose an existing facility to meet the public health crisis of meth addiction.

The evening began with an introduction of 7 recovering addicts from the Morberg House residential treatment program, who briefly described the lives they had, which their drug addiction has destroyed. 

A former microbiologist; a Coumputer Science major; a 4 year degree program stopped one year short; another with a completed Master's Degree with a PhD; two others wishing to continue their education, and lastly a young grandfather and artist "glad to be off the meth and be a part of my family again." Putting that context to the concept of a "typical" meth addict brought home to the audience and panelists that this is not so much a drug of the pre-existing down-and-out drug-using segment of society, but rather that crystal meth delivers totally normal people to the depths of hell at breakneck speed.

Liberal leader Dougald Lamont, MLA for St. Boniface, attended the panel held in his riding as did his NDP opponent, Laurissa Sims, and Green Party leader James Beddome seeking election in Fort Rouge represented his party. 

Absent from the Notre Dame Recreational Centre was any speaker for the governing Progressive Conservative Party, which did not send a reply to the invitation. Marion Willis, Director of Morberg House, opened the public Q and A segment with a proposal, after the moderated presentation and discussion by representatives of the three opposition parties. 

Willis described her tour of a mothballed licenced care centre at 800 Adele Ave. in Winnipeg's west end. She was asked to see the building after our widely-watched profiles of the success of Morberg House, an addictions recovery program on Provencher Blvd. in St. Boniface affiliated with Street Links. 

The former nun's residence was leased for use by child welfare agencies for 11 years until the Pallister administration sought to terminate the 20 year contract and ordered a midnight move this winter - but tax dollars are still paying rent on the empty building until next April (video length 2.27).

Willis described the existing 10 stabilization beds with triage on 2 floors and an attached administration building that could become "a centre of excellence to address the meth crisis".

She compared it unfavourably with election promises by Premier Brian Pallister and NDP leader Wab Kinew to spend tax dollars to build new drug detox units.

"It's a Class A turn-key building with 10 beds, the security, it's all there, it's locked in, turn on the lights, put some staff in there, put the Main Street Project, put AFM in there..." 

Willis beseeched the candidates to look beyond the legal dispute the government has provoked with the building's owners. "What this city needs most has been sitting since February empty, locked up, within walking distance of Health Sciences Centre." 

She challenged the panelists what they would do if elected to government, about 800 Adele. Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont replied "If it's suitable, that should be the place it goes." (2.29)

The NDP was in a peculiar position on the issue as it has already committed to an ambitious program of services to be located on Main Street and Logan operated by Main Street Project. But Sims said she was confident that her leader Wab Kinew would be interested in having a conversation about the viability of the Willis proposal as part of their addiction services. (1.20)

Beddome, hoping to unseat Kinew in Fort Rouge, gave a short concise answer stating "we're in a crisis so why aren't we doing something?" (.40)

Lamont, Sims, and Beddome had more to say to the audience about:
 - 800 Adele and the contract dispute between the Pallister government and the owners
-  the WRHA failing to get used needles they distribute off the streets, and 
- their collective support for a safe injection site which got a surprising (to them) rebuke 
- more to come in a follow-up column soon!
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Standing in for the PC Party last night: the very popular rubber chicken.

Here's where we usual pitch to try to earn your financial support for the independent reporting presented on this blog.

No other media hung around long enough yesterday night to get the only REAL news to emerge. 

The ONLY variations from the announced platforms came from the questions about 800 Adele and the failed "harm reduction" needle exchange program - stories exclusively reported on by TGCTS. 

Last night proved that in seeking your vote, politicians can be forced to go off script and address YOUR issues. 
That's what citizen journalism does.

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