Adam Katz: Manitoba’s Conservatives are collapsing, ensuring Wab Kinew’s dominance

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WINNIPEG — Manitoba’s opposition Proressive Conservatives found themselves suddenly leaderless on Monday after leader Obby Khan quit his post and left caucus. This followed months of internal strife with several high-profile staff and MLAs either quitting or saying they wouldn’t run again. But Khan’s resignation is less a standalone leadership crisis than the latest sign of a party that has struggled to rebuild since losing government in 2023. With only a year before the next provincial election, the Conservatives will be hard-pressed to mount a convincing challenge to NDP Premier Wab Kinew unless they can resolve those organizational and political problems quickly.

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Khan served as leader for only 17-months and his resignation came only days after he survived a caucus confidence vote. Despite receiving that support, Khan said the divisions and feuding within the party had taken an intolerable toll, and that efforts by some in the party to undermine his leadership had contributed to his decision to step down. According to Khan, some caucus members were apparently planning to hold a “secret meeting” the night before the resignation at the home of MLA Konrad Narth, who has since been named interim leader. The PCs subsequently criticized Khan for airing private caucus discussions publicly, while Khan accused Narth of hypocrisy for invoking confidentiality after allegedly organizing a meeting to discuss removing him without the full caucus.

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Khan’s resignation leaves the PCs with 19 MLAs in the legislature and begins another leadership transition less than two years after Khan was elected to replace former leader Heather Stefanson, who also had a short tenure as.

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Khan’s leaving was preceded by the departure of PC campaign director Stephen Carter on Sept. 25, after roughly nine months in the role. Carter, who was hired to develop the party’s strategy for the next election, said he left because he had lost confidence in Khan’s leadership, describing a breakdown between Khan and the MLAs, as well as between Khan and party organization and staff. “There was not the division in caucus. There was a division between the leader and the party, and the leader and the caucus, and the leader and the staff,” Carter told media on Tuesday.

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The PCs must now replace both their leader and campaign director with the October 2027 election approaching.

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The current divisions within the party stem back to Khan’s closely fought leadership race. He narrowly defeated Wally Daudrich, a businessman and longtime PC board member, under the party’s weighted voting system. Khan entered office promising to bring the party together after the leadership race, but disagreements within the party continued during his tenure.

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One of the most visible disputes involved Daudrich himself. After narrowly losing the leadership to Khan, despite receiving more individual votes, Daudrich remained active within the party and later sought the PC nomination in the southwest riding of Turtle Mountain, where the incumbent MLA would not seek re-election. In June, the PCs barred him from seeking the nomination citing disparaging comments about PC MLAs, misuse of third-party contact lists, and refusal to withdraw threatened litigation against party officials, including Khan.

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Daudrich subsequently became an outspoken critic of the party and its leadership. He disputed the party’s explanation for rejected his candidacy and argued that the PCs had moved away from the conservative values he had campaigned on. He subsequently left the party.