Manitoba Progressive Conservatives will have leadership race after 2 officially endorsed candidates

The field is officially set for the race to determine the next leader of Manitoba’s official opposition party.

Churchill hotelier Wally Daudrich and Fort Whyte MLA Obby Khan have both been officially endorsed as candidates to become the next leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba.

“I can confirm that we have two authorized candidates,” Brad Zander, chairman of the party’s leadership election committee, told CBC News on Saturday.

The party launched its leadership race in June, giving potential candidates until October 15 to register and submit their documents. Application packages would then be reviewed by a committee of seven peoplethe party said in June.

A leadership election is scheduled for April 25, 2025, to replace Heather Stefanson, who stepped down last January.

She announced her intention to step down as leader in October 2023 after the PCs were defeated by the Manitoba NDP in the provincial election and he resigned as an MP earlier this year.

Stephenson became PC Party leader in 2021following the resignation of then Prime Minister Brian Pallister.

Lac du Bonnet MP Wayne Ewasko was interim leader of the party.

The PCs said they opted to give candidates enough time to file and the campaign after the party’s last leadership race, in which Stefanson defeated Shelly Glover, was marred by complaints about a abbreviated timeline of the elections.

Zander previously told CBC News Khan was approved as a candidate, while Daudrich was still being reviewed by the party’s electoral commission when applications closed on Oct. 15.

That review involved a criminal background check and a social media check, Zander told CBC News at the time.

Daudrich and Khan are expected to appear at an initial leadership event on October 30 at the Delta Hotel, where they will be asked to outline their vision for the party.