McFadyen blames NDP's sowing of "Fear and Deceit" for loss? Hardly.

In 1969, after losing to Ed Schreyer, defeated PC Premier Walter Weir infamously proclaimed: "The people have spoken. And the people are wrong."  Thankfully, defeated Manitoba PC leader Hugh McFadyen didn't pull a Walter Weir last night. No, instead of pulling a Weir; in defeat McFadyen pulled "a McFadyen". After being bested by Premier Greg Selinger's NDP machine, Mr. McFadyen told his shell-shocked PC supporters they'd lost because: "in Manitoba it appears that fear and deceit have won the day." Harrumph... hardly.  Despite the negative tenor of the NDP campaign (and make no mistake, it was negative) it wasn't the NDP's sowing of "fear and deceit" that sealed Hugh McFadyen's fate last night... Hugh McFadyen did it to himself.

Now did I want Hugh McFadyen to win last night? No, absolutely not. Greg Selinger deserved to win his own mandate and, having done so, I am optimistic he will govern us ably over the next four years. That being said: Do I think Hugh McFadyen could have and should have run a better campaign? Yes, absolutely.

Had Hugh McFadyen run a better and smarter election campaign he may very well have won 24-27 seats last night.  Had he run a campaign truly based on hope and "vision" he could have damaged the NDP brand and put Selinger on the defensive for the next four years. And, had McFadyen run a quality campaign, he could have remained at the helm of a PC party ideally positioned to win power in 2015. But McFadyen didn't run a dynamic campaign with a difference; instead, he ran a reactionary campaign: one that saw him call the Premier a liar on everything from the deficit to taxes, from health to Bi-pole, from crime to employment, and beyond. Instead of providing the electors with a forward looking cohesive narrative, he instead tried to instil within the voters a deep-seated "fear" of four more years of NDP rule. He preferred to bemoan the NDP's twelve year reign rather than expound clearly and concisely upon what his PC party would do differently over the span of the next four. Finally, he absolutely failed to project an image of a man who was confident in his own abilities and at peace with his party's policy platform. In short, he failed to lead.

When a losing politician publicly voices post-vote sour grapes, it leaves the whole polity with a bad aftertaste. Hugh McFadyen did this last night. By trying to place the blame for his defeat on an NDP campaign he says was rooted in "fear and deceit" McFadyen is conveniently forgetting to admit his own complicity in the same equation. True, Manitoba votes 2011 was an ugly no holds barred political campaign. But McFadyen entered the bare knuckled melee willingly, and after having swung away only to lose - its poor form for McFadyen to look at his bruised and bloody knuckles and now complain he lost because his opponents were playing by the same rules. He took the gloves off, they took the gloves off - fair is fair. When announcing his resignation as PC leader last night Hugh McFadyen need not have stooped to blaming the NDP's campaign tactics. His failure to lead was really what had sealed the deal... and his resignation said it all. It's a pity he chose to lash out, for in the end, rightly or wrongly: "The people have spoken." 

An ugly turn: Selinger & McFadyen "go to the mattresses"

Here in Jets and Bombers land the leaders debate on Monday gave Manitoba's voters a preview of what to expect in the closing weeks of the provincial election campaign... it's gonna get ugly, very ugly. Absent a defining election issue, and with little separating their respective platforms, the two major contenders have obviously decided it's time to "go to the mattresses". And both NDP Premier Greg Selinger and PC leader Hugh McFadyen are doing so with a gusto rarely seen in these parts; with each seemingly committed to assassinating the political character of the other before October 4th.

For his part Selinger has staked his fortunes on the plausible but negative "McFadyen's too big a risk" strategy. Designed to insulate the NDP against some legitimate (though not fatal) criticisms of its twelve year record while in office, the strategy seeks to paint the PC leader as a politician with a closeted privatization fetish "who doesn’t mind urine in Lake Winnipeg ... and [who] will fire hundreds of nurses with a stroke of a pen." While it's hard to say at this juncture if the strategy will pay off, it's clear Selinger is embracing the approach. Further, owing to the nature of the strategy, Selinger is occasionally letting his contempt for some of PC leader Hugh McFadyen's more egregious slurs shine through. At times during yesterday's debate Selinger's tone was indeed sharp. Yet, considering where the respective campaigns are at present, it's safe to say Selinger's "sharp" tones may be just the tip of the iceberg. With the PC's opting to shrilly go where all other desperate campaigns before them have gone (to the planet Negative), it's virtually assured that Premier Selinger will be upping his attack game on McFadyen in the days to come. 

Meanwhile, back on PC planet Negative, Hugh McFadyen is busy painting Selinger's government as being responsible for ALL that ails our contemporary Manitoba society.

Too much crime? - It's all Selinger's fault.

Too much rain and flooding? - It's all Selinger's fault.

Too much drought? - It's all Selinger's fault.

Too much sickness? - It's all Selinger's fault.

Too rich and angry about paying taxes? - It's all Selinger's fault.

Too many challenges for the private sector amid a global recession? -Yep, all Selinger's fault.

Too stupid and poorly educated (even if you attended school under Gary Filmon's regime)? - Yep, you got it, that too is all Selinger's fault.

In short, in the world according to Hugh, ALL the angst, depression, insecurity, frustration, and melancholy in Manitoba has but one root cause. A root cause that goes by but one name: SELINGER. And if you let McFadyen talk long enough through his perpetual vacant smile he'll try to convince you that Selinger is singularly responsible for every ort, bite, and crumb of all that presently ails us in our fair prairie Eden. Problem is, while there may be some legitimate points to be made against the current government... Greg Selinger and the NDP simply can't be responsible for everything. After all, Manitoba is hardly a hermetically sealed polity unaffected by the macroeconomic and societal afflictions now taxing all western democracies. And to pretend otherwise, as McFadyen does, is simply not credible.   

Sure election campaigns are war by other means, but this one is getting downright silly... and mean. Having abandoned the poignant politics of purpose and promise both leaders find themselves bogged down in their trenches as their jaded backroom generals run negative ignoble campaigns centered on character assassination. Campaigns which, at their core, are doing a great disservice to both the credibility of the leaders, the spirits of their front line troops, and to us, the hapless voters. And though I am no friend of Hugh McFadyen or his politics, I am disappointed that Premier Selinger has chosen to indulge in a childish tit-for-tat on the electoral schoolyard with an opponent who, by rights, could be easily defeated on the basis of his nonexistent vision. Instead, we are confronted by fear mongering and name calling from both sides; the kind that will only get uglier as October 4th approaches. Buckle up Manitoba, it's going to be a rough ride.

Guess which one's the Crazy?

One of these men professed last night that he'd rescue Manitoba from "the merchants of fear and falsehood(s)" and that he was against the practice of "rewarding car thieves and low level gangsters with slurpees and baseball tickets." - the other is just plain nuts! Care to guess who is who?

Meanwhile in Manitoba... will Selinger be a Weir?

The last throne speech authored by a 'replacement premier' in Manitoba was in 1968, when poor Walter Weir assumed the burden of leadership from that highly over-rated, quasi-progressive, and so-called conservative, Duff Roblin.

Roblin, who had become frustrated by the inability of Manitoba to bear the costs of his mega-project projects, abandoned Manitoba's ship just as his “regime was beginning to falter”. After a decade in power Roblin claimed that provincial power had “lost much of its savour and appeal.” Much like the recently departed Doer, hapless Roblin then sought to trade the keys to his provincial office for one on a larger, grander, and presumably more important stage. In the end, unlike Doer, Roblin failed. Because, again unlike Doer, his chosen escape hatch came without any guarantees.

Enter Walter Weir and his infamous Throne Speech in 1968. So, with this in mind, I would like to simply say:

Whatever else happens today, I hope that Premier Greg Selinger does not forget how 'replacement' Premier Walter Weir's inaugural Throne Speech marked the beginning of the end of his government.

The last thing Mr. Selinger needs to do is to emulate Weir. He cannot afford to see his speech categorized (a la Weir's) as little more that "five well spaced pages of legistative balloon juice and whiffle dust"! He cannot, as did Weir, leave the opposition "smacking their lips in anticipation" of the upcoming session. He cannot give us promises that are blinded by their lack of vision.

If nothing else, Mr. Selinger should, indeed must, take the opportunity he has today to stake his claim to the office he now holds. He must provide Manitobans with absolute proof that this NDP government is HIS government. That it will reflect his promises, his goals, his identity, and his commitment to try harder than his predecessor. He must convey that the old, albeit successful, but ultimately unsatisfactory NDP way of doing business and making 'safe policy' is over. In short, he must demonstrate that he will aspire to do greater things than his predecessor.

The last thing Mr. Selinger (and Manitobans) want to read in tomorrow's paper (or on today's internet) is that his Throne Speech fell short. That it missed its mark. That, as was said of Weir's, it amounted to little more that "a slender legislative programme" marked by an "anything - but bold approach." Because what we don't need is Selinger's Throne Speech to be seen, amid the all heraldry, pomp and circumstance, as something "strictly in the pop-gun category".

After all, after a decade of Doer, we deserve more!

[re: quotation marks - most are from March 3rd, 1968 edition of the Winnipeg Free Press and Roblin's biography - oops, maybe it is the March 5th, 1968 edition of the Freep I am citing - check both if you need as I am doing it from memory!]