Manitoba Progressive Conservatives criticize Obby Khan for airing caucus infighting

Manitoba Progressive Conservatives criticize Obby Khan for airing caucus infighting

Ex-leader says Tories didn't respect confidentiality when news leaked of secret ballot on his future

Progressive Conservatives are criticizing their ex-leader, Obby Khan, for publicly airing details of the internal discussions that led to his sudden resignation.

"I can understand the hurt and the feeling of betrayal that Obby has. I'm surprised that caucus confidence is being ignored," party president Peter Smith said in an interview.

"I would have hoped that that wouldn't have happened."

Khan revealed Monday, in his speech resigning as party leader, that a "small group of MLAs" were unwilling to accept the result of a confidence vote into his leadership, which the former leader said he won by a two-to-one margin.

Khan resigned because he said he believed caucus divisions couldn't be repaired. He decided to sit as an Independent MLA instead.

The next day, Khan said MLAs Jodie Byram and Richard Perchotte presented the non-confidence motion. He said MLAs Kathleen Cook, Carrie Hiebert and Lauren Stone spoke out against his leadership during the closed-doors debate.

Khan also named the person he alleges organized a meeting after the vote to discuss the party's future, without inviting Khan and his supporters, as MLA Konrad Narth.

Narth, now serving as PC interim leader, said Thursday, "There's a lot of things for the operation of the organization that needs to remain private."

Manitoba PCs criticize Khan for spilling details of caucus infighting

That principle gives MLAs the permission to speak freely, he said.

Khan said Tuesday his leadership was put to a confidence vote at a caucus meeting last Friday.

He said caucus members debated his political future over the course of 2½ hours. MLA Kelvin Goertzen warned of the dangers of caucus infighting, while critics questioned Khan's leadership style and the party's poor showing in recent polls, he said.

Khan reported he received 13 votes to remain party leader, with six caucus members opposed and one MLA absent.

The former leader said he heard rumblings over the weekend that some of his opponents weren't willing to accept the results of the secret ballot, and were planning a meeting Monday to discuss his leadership.

Khan said he and some of his supporters, including Goertzen and MLA Ron Schuler, weren't invited. He announced his resignation around the time that meeting was scheduled.

Since then, Khan's public comments don't "leave any path to reconciliation or restoration of relationships" with the caucus he's left, Smith said.

Your job in politics is to "collect friends and not enemies," he said.

When the Manitoba PCs lost their leader, the NDP lost its greatest asset

Smith argued caucus confidentiality should have been respected even after Khan left the party. He said in most professions, confidentiality rules extend beyond your employment.

Khan said the Tories cannot claim to uphold caucus confidentiality when he said news of the non-confidence motion was leaking before last Friday's caucus meeting ended. He said he was getting text messages before the meeting adjourned.

Khan added Narth shouldn't be talking about respecting caucus when he was the one who organized a secret meeting, without the entire caucus, to plot his takedown.

"I would highly think that that goes against the entire integrity of what the caucus is supposed to be set up for," Khan said.

Narth hasn't confirmed whether he played any role in organizing a meeting, citing confidentiality.

He said Thursday he wasn't aware of any secret meeting forcing Khan to step down. However, Khan already resigned around the time of the alleged meeting.

During question period Thursday, the governing NDP largely ignored the infighting consuming the Official Opposition, except for Premier Wab Kinew.

He batted away Tory questions blaming the provincial government for a lax bail system.

There is less crime in Manitoba now than when the Progressive Conservatives were in office, Kinew said.

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"What are they doing in the meantime? They found knives and chased out their leader," he said in French.

The premier was presumably speaking French in a nod to Narth allegedly criticizing NDP MLA Robert Loiselle earlier this year for answering his English question in French. Kinew responded that day by continuing to speak in French.

At the time, the Tories denied that Narth criticized the language being spoken. Narth, who doesn't speak French, said Thursday the premier can speak in any language he wants provided he answers the question.

Advance notice before leadership vote

Smith said the Progressive Conservatives will make decisions over the next few weeks on the rules for the next leadership race.

The party's constitution states 90 to 300 days of advance notice is needed before a leadership vote is held, which means the vote cannot occur before January. The Tories have an annual general meeting in late February that could become the day of the leadership election, but Smith said no decisions have been made.

"We've got some flexibility, but I don't intend to slow-walk this process," he said, alluding to the NDP potentially calling an election before the scheduled Oct. 5, 2027 date.

"We want to move on, and as part of our readiness for the election, [have] a permanent leader."

Smith said if an election is called before a permanent leader is in place, Narth will lead the PCs to the polls.

"That's why we don't appoint someone that we see as just a caretaker as the interim leader, but someone who we think can take us to an election.”

Kinew has said he's not planning to call an election this year.

Ian Froese covers the Manitoba Legislature and provincial politics for CBC News in Winnipeg. He serves as president of the legislature's press gallery. He studied U.S. culture, media and politics as a 2025 World Press Institute fellow. You can reach him at ian.froese@cbc.ca.