More Manitoba Liberals Resign

18 posts / 0 new

Thu, 2016-03-31 00:06

jerrym

The Manitoba provincial election has revealed how deep the problems that the provinicial Liberal party have. It all began with the resignation of two candidates and the party's chief of staff in early March.

Quote:

Last Updated Monday, March 7, 2016 8:56PM CST

WINNIPEG -- The Manitoba Liberal Party lost another candidate and a staff member Monday -- the latest blow to the small party with a provincial election six weeks away.

Stephanie Danyluk dropped out of the race in the Winnipeg constituency of Fort Whyte, citing personal reasons. Her boyfriend, Spencer Fernando, resigned as the party's chief of staff.

"After dedicating nearly 10 years to political life, I have come to the difficult, personal realization that politics is no longer the career path for me at this time," Fernando wrote in an email, adding that he was taking on a job with his father at a photography business.

"There is a big world outside of politics, which I look forward to exploring. I wish (Liberal leader) Rana Bokhari, my former colleagues, and the Manitoba Liberal team all the best."

Danyluk also wished the Liberals well, and did not reveal any details about her decision to quit.

Liberal spokesman Mike Brown says the departures were disappointing, but not unusual.

"Politics is politics and sometimes people leave for their own reasons. If I was a mind reader I would tell you what those (reasons) are, but I'm not and I can't."

The departures follow the loss of Jamie Hall, a Liberal candidate in the Southdale constituency in Winnipeg and the party's social media co-ordinator. Hall resigned over social media comments in which he used offensive terms for women.

The disarray so close to the April 19 provincial election is a sign of acrimony behind closed doors at Liberal headquarters, according to one political analyst.

"Candidates don't leave, chiefs of staff don't leave this close to an election unless something significant has occurred," said Royce Koop, who teaches political science at the University of Manitoba.

"That's the worst possible image -- this image of disorganization and dissension within the party."

http://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/manitoba-liberals-lose-another-candidate-and-...

Thu, 2016-03-31 00:08

jerrym

Five Liberal candidates have had to resign for violating Elections Manitoba rules on March 30th, too late to find replacements, further demonstrating their the organizational woes and raising serious questions about the Manitoba Liberals ability to govern.

Quote:

The Manitoba Liberal Party has lost yet another candidate in advance of the April 19 election.

The party says its candidate in Gimli, Joanne Levy, has been disqualified by Elections Manitoba because she worked as an enumerator earlier this year.

The NDP filed a complaint about Levy earlier this week, saying her partisan activity broke the rules governing non-partisan enumerators. Liberal Joanne Levy was accused by the NDP of violating the election law. (Courtesy of Joanne Levy)

The NDP accused Levy of engaging in "political partisan activity" during her time as an enumerator. Some of the concerns raised include pictures and articles she posted on her Facebook page about the Liberal Party while she was working for Elections Manitoba. ...

According to the Elections Manitoba Act, a person can't be nominated as a candidate if he or she is an enumerator. ...

Elections Manitoba has also rejected nomination forms from four other rural Liberal candidates because they didn't have proper addresses for some people who signed the forms. The decision means the Liberals will not have a full slate of 57 candidates for the first time since 1999.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-liberals-nomination-form...

Thu, 2016-03-31 11:30

quizzical

wow....

Thu, 2016-03-31 20:46

laine lowe laine lowe's picture

New leadership has not been an improvement even though the Province hates Selinger. Gerrard probably should have stayed at the helm if they wanted to make the provincial Liberals happen.

Thu, 2016-03-31 22:15

Aristotleded24

[url=http://www.brandonsun.com/breaking-news/manitoba-political-parties-all-a..., way out West:[/url]

Quote:
Billy Moore, one of several last-minute Liberal candidates for the April 19 election, said repeatedly Wednesday and Thursday that the wide availability of hospital emergency rooms encourages people to use them for minor or non-existent ailments.

"People want to get sick even if they're not sick, because there are hospitals that need to be filled," he said in an interview Thursday, echoing remarks he made the previous day at a candidates debate.

Moore, who is running in the Brandon West constituency, said he received concerned comments from people. But he initially maintained that two of Winnipeg's six hospitals should be closed.

Hours later, he said the entire controversy was a ruse and he really supports keeping all hospitals open.

[url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/bokhari-damage-control-1.3514789]... weighed in:[/url]

Quote:
Bokhari said she spoke to Moore on Thursday and won't ask him to drop out of the race. The party doesn't endorse closing hospitals, she added.

"Just to clarify what he was trying to say, if we focus on preventative measures so people don't have to use hospitals, we won't need that many," she said. "That's essentially what he was trying to articulate. Agreed, he didn't do a really good job of it at the time, but what he's standing behind is preventative medicine."

And a week after Easter, it seems few people in this province care about the upcoming election. At least I take some comfort in the fact that my neighbours and I can do what everyone else in the province wants to, and that is to throw out the PCs, Liberals, and NDP.

I get the sense that the seeds are being planted for a shake-up election in Manitoba within 1-2 election cycles that will upend the political establishment in this province. Can you say elected Green government in 2020?

Fri, 2016-04-01 13:54

Aristotleded24

laine lowe wrote:
New leadership has not been an improvement even though the Province hates Selinger. Gerrard probably should have stayed at the helm if they wanted to make the provincial Liberals happen.

The party as a whole does not understand their target voters. Roughly half the voters back the PCs, the other half wants anybody but, and it's among this voter pool that support for the Liberals and NDP tends to fluctuate. Sure, people may have misgivings about NDP shortcomings on health care and education, but above all else, these people don't want the PCs. The Liberals need to give these voters a compelling reason to take a risk on their policies, platform, vision, whatever, but they simply haven't done that. Am I the only one who hasn't heard the Liberals go after Pallister in any meaningful way?

Fri, 2016-04-01 14:03

Unionist

This is fantastic news... and will definitely be a game-changer in the election!!

Manitoba to annex Kenora: Ontario, Manitoba resolve century-old boundary dispute

Fri, 2016-04-01 14:26

Slumberjack

Game changer indeed, at least until midnight.

Fri, 2016-04-01 16:49

jerrym

However, in the most recent case the Liberals have decided to stand by their man, wife-beater and all.

Quote:

The Manitoba Liberal Party is standing by a candidate who pleaded guilty to assaulting his common-law wife in 2002.

Court documents show Kurt Berger was given a conditional sentence of two years' probation and underwent counselling for anger management and depression.

Berger, who is running in the Elmwood constituency in Winnipeg, says he and his girlfriend got into an argument, both pushed each other and he called the RCMP.

Liberal spokesman Mike Brown says Berger was honest about what happened and has paid his penance, and the party believes enough time has passed.

The Liberals are not the only party with a candidate who has an assault conviction.

New Democrat candidate Wab Kinew pleaded guilty to assaulting a taxi driver in 2004 -- an incident he mentioned in his recent memoir.

http://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/special-features/election-2016/manitoba-liber...

Tue, 2016-04-05 00:02

#10

Timebandit Timebandit's picture

I think I heard on the radio today that Bokhari changed her mind and he's out.

Tue, 2016-04-05 01:01

#11

jerrym

You are right. Kurt Berger has dropped Kurt Berger, wife beater, despite originally allowing him to stay as a candidate.

The Liberal problem-a-day campaign continues.

Quote:

Manitoba Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari says she has asked for the resignation of Kurt Berger, a party candidate in Winnipeg who had pleaded guilty to assaulting his then-common-law partner 14 years ago. ...

Bokhari told reporters in Winnipeg that "new information" has come to light, prompting her to ask Berger to step down on Monday morning. ...

The new information came in the form of an email from Berger's ex-partner, said Bokhari, who declined to elaborate on what was said.

"If it's he said, she said and that's what this has become, I have to side with the female, I have to side with the woman," she said.

Bokhari said "even if there's an air of truth" to what the ex-partner said, she felt she had to ask for Berger's resignation.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-election-kurt-berger-res...

Tue, 2016-04-05 13:38

#12

jerrym

The most recent poll is showing a decline in Liberal support in Winnipeg of 3% with the NDP and PCs gaining 3% each. Since the poll was done from March 26 to April 3 before many of the above problems were known to the public, future polls are likely to show a further decline.

Quote:

A new poll released by a firm run by three Liberals suggests support for Rana Bokhari's party is on the decline in Winnipeg as election day nears.

Insight Manitoba polled a random sample of 3,454 Winnipeggersbetween March 26 and April 3 and found approval ratings for the Manitoba Liberal Party have slid by three percentage points in Winnipeg since the beginning of March. The party went from a 19 to 16 per cent approval rating in Winnipeg.

The drop coincides with a boost in support for the Manitoba Progressive Conservatives and the New Democrats in the Winnipeg battleground. Support for the NDP inched up from 21 to 24 per cent; approval for a Brian Pallister-led government rose from 35 to 38 per cent. The Greens remained steady at five per cent, according to the poll.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-election-liberal-support...

Fri, 2016-04-08 00:21

#13

Aristotleded24

This was the Liberal's best chance of a major breakthrough since Sharon Carstairs. Bokhari has shown that she is not up to the task, but I also think the Liberal Party has difficulties as well. Which is a shame, because I think Manitobans were looking for a viable alternative to the status quo.

I don't get the sense that people are that interested in the election. I think this election is going to be an increasingly bitter fight between people who would march off a cliff on the orders of their party of choice, and the general public will not notice or care that an election is happening. We may even see a voter turn-out well below 50%.

Fri, 2016-04-08 01:27

#14

Mr. Magoo

Quote:
He has gone through excessive therapy," she said. "He has gone through anger management. He has proven to us at that time.... We had documents, we had everything to show that he did his best to rehabilitate whatever it was. However, for a woman to come out and just ... if there's any air or truth even the slightest air of truth to anything that is being said by by this individual I can't allow it.

Has anyone managed to parse this?

Fri, 2016-04-08 03:20

#15

Ken Burch

Will the last one out of the Manitoba Liberal Party please turn out the lights?

Fri, 2016-04-08 16:50

#16

jerrym

Ken Burch wrote:

Will the last one out of the Manitoba Liberal Party please turn out the lights?

A Mainstreet/Postmedia April 7th poll suggests Manitoba voters are turning the lights off for the Liberals.

Quote:

A new poll suggests that support for the Manitoba Liberals is fragile and dropping, but it is the Progressive Conservatives, and not the New Democrats, who stand to benefit most.

The Mainstreet/Postmedia survey, published Thursday morning, shows the PCs holding the lead with 50 per cent support among decided and leaning voters, compared to 24 per cent for the New Democrats, 17 per cent for the Liberals, and 9 per cent for the Greens.Among all respondents, 22 per cent reported they were undecided, unchanged from Mainstreet's previous poll of March 29.

Voter support, however, has shifted significantly. Brian Pallister's PCs picked up five points from that earlier poll. The Liberals have shed seven points — virtually all of it in Winnipeg, and almost all of it going to the Tories.

In the provincial capital, the PCs were ahead with 46 per cent support against 29 per cent for the New Democrats and 16 per cent for Rana Bokhari's Liberals. The Tories have gained six points in the city since March 29. The Liberals dropped nine points.

There was less movement in the rest of the province, where the Progressive Conservatives hold a wide lead. The PCs were pegged at 55 per cent support outside of Winnipeg, trailed by the Liberals at 20 per cent and the New Democrats at 16 per cent. None of the variations here since Mainstreet's last poll were outside of the margin of error.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/grenier-manitoba-mainstreet-1.352...

Fri, 2016-04-08 17:40

#17

genstrike

Hmmmmm. Could be interesting if the Liberals make no gains, and the Greens pick up Wolseley...

Fri, 2016-04-08 20:23

#18

Aristotleded24

genstrike wrote:
Hmmmmm. Could be interesting if the Liberals make no gains, and the Greens pick up Wolseley...

I'm ready to call Wolseley for the NDP, actually. I haven't seen the amount of activity around that would indicate this riding is seriously in play, and there's no way the Greens are going to close a 40-point gap with less than 2 weeks to go. My guess is that the Greens top out at 30%.

That is, unless you've heard something different than me.