Oswald can win: NDP official
Says ex-minister has what it takes to beat Pallister
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/12/2014 (3388 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A third member of the NDP’s executive has come out to say the governing New Democrats need a new leader.
Lorraine Sigurdson was one of two past presidents of the party who on Thursday urged former cabinet minister Theresa Oswald to run in an upcoming leadership contest against Premier Greg Selinger.
“I think that she’s the only one that can lead us into another term of government,” Sigurdson, the immediate past NDP president, said Thursday.
“I don’t think that we can defeat Brian Pallister without her. I just don’t think he would be a compassionate premier. I think he would be a dangerous premier.”
Also lending her voice in support of Oswald was former party president Carmen Neufeld, the party’s president in the late 1980s to early 1990s.
“She’s very well-respected and I just think she’s got unlimited potential as a leader,” Neufeld, the former chairwoman of the Liquor Control Commission of Manitoba, said of Oswald.
“I’d say by the end of the week it would be good for her to get out and get her message out and start making people understand why she’s in the race and why she’s the best person for this.”
The timing of Sigurdson’s and Neufeld’s comments come as Oswald continues to say she’s still considering whether she wants to take a run at Selinger for the party’s top position.
However, their comments indicate the organizers behind Oswald’s expected campaign are already working behind the scenes to build public support.
Oswald is expected to announce her intentions before the end of the week.
Two executive members — Darlene Dziewit, a former Manitoba Federation of Labour president, and Becky Barrett, a former MLA and cabinet minister — publicly called on Selinger to resign a month ago after Oswald and four other cabinet ministers resigned.
I think that she’s the only one that can lead us into another term of government’
— NDP executive member Lorraine Sigurdson (above), of Theresa Oswald (right)
Oswald, the former jobs and economy minister, Jennifer Howard (finance), Stan Struthers (municipal government), Andrew Swan (justice) and Erin Selby (health) resigned in protest over Selinger’s continued leadership of the NDP. Their resignations came after months of internal discussions related to falling public support caused by the premier’s handling of the increase of the provincial sales tax.
They said if the party’s low polling numbers are not reversed, the NDP will essentially be handing Pallister and his Progressive Conservatives the key to the premier’s office.
Two surveys released this week back up those claims.
Angus Reid said Selinger’s approval rating has dropped to an all-time low of 17 per cent and Probe Research’s annual business-leader index found only 13 per cent of 200 business leaders believed the government was doing a good or excellent job, down from 26 per cent in 2010.
Sigurdson said when Oswald was health minister, she showed her strength and ability to lead.
“I think there is a general unease amongst people and has been for some time,” she said in reference to Selinger’s leadership.
“And that has been bolstered by not just recent poll results, but by poll results over a period of time. There’s just this malaise. And I’ve been really concerned about that for a while. Our leader has said that he is open to taking on challengers at this upcoming convention so I’ve been advised that Theresa is seriously considering it. And I strongly believe that she should do it.”
The leadership contest is March 8 at the party’s annual convention.
Sigurdson said Oswald has the best chance to dislodge a sitting premier.
Neufeld said Oswald’s biggest challenge is to shed the image, held by some, that she’s a rebellious MLA.
“She has to make people understand that (the five former ministers) would not have made the decision they did if they felt that all the avenues of discussion had not been exhausted,” Neufeld said.
“We need the respect that comes with a new leader and I believe she is the person to do this.”
bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca
Larry Kusch
Legislature reporter
Larry Kusch didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life until he attended a high school newspaper editor’s workshop in Regina in the summer of 1969 and listened to a university student speak glowingly about the journalism program at Carleton University in Ottawa.
History
Updated on Thursday, December 18, 2014 7:29 AM CST: Replaces photo