Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister says he won’t seek re-election and a new Progressive Conservative leader will be chosen before the next provincial election.
“After almost 10 years as leader of our party and more than five years as our province’s premier, I believe that now is the time for a new leader and a premier to take our province forward,” Pallister said Tuesday during a press conference in Brandon, Manitoba.
The next provincial election is slated for October 2023, but Pallister stated that he would remain Premier until that time to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pressure for his exit recently began to mount after he came under fire for comments about Canada’s history, specifically that people who came to Canada before and after it became a country did not come to destroy but to build.
Since then, his Indigenous relations minister resigned from cabinet, two Indigenous men quit provincial economic development boards and Indigenous leaders roundly condemned the premier.
Progressive Conservative Party President, Tom Wiebe, said the executive council will meet in the coming days to determine leadership contest rules. The party’s constitution states the next leader is to be chosen by all party members on a one-member, one-vote basis.
(Photo credit: Mikaela MacKenzie/Winnipeg Free Press files)
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