"These are exciting times for Progressive Conservatives!"

Gary Doer's resignation presents an important opportunity for Progressive Conservatives, and we will be ready in the next election to show Manitobans that we have the ideas, the team, and the vision to take this province into the future.
As you may know, we were planning our election strategy around fighting Gary Doer. Instead, we will be running against a new NDP leader trying desperately to put a fresh face on a government that has no new ideas, no energy, and no vision for the future.

But we are not taking anything for granted. We know that despite Gary Doer's departure, the NDP still has a network of pollsters, advertisers and media spinners at their disposal. They may even break their own fixed election date and call a snap election shortly after their leader is anointed.

That's why we've accelerated our election planning. Our policy process will be sped up, with proposed resolutions being adopted as party policy as soon as this November at our annual general meeting. Candidate recruitment is in full swing, to make sure we put forward a talented team of community leaders to represent our party in government.

Simply put, in the next election we will have great candidates, better policy and by working together we will win the next election.

Friend, this is an exciting time to be a Progressive Conservative! I'm encouraging you to take this opportunity right now to get involved as we look to form government. Please volunteer, become a member, get involved in our policy process, or visit our website to find out more ways you can take action.
I'd like to thank you for your ongoing support. It is with your help that we can turn the next election into a Progressive Conservative victory and point Manitoba in a positive direction for the future.

Sincerely,

Hugh McFadyen
Leader, Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba

Deank wrote:PCs want to win? Hugh needs to step down.

Deank wrote:PCs want to win? Hugh needs to step down.

By Andy Blatchford, The Canadian Press

MONTREAL - Stephen Harper's rivals say his behind-closed-door musings
about winning a majority, stamping out separatists and socialists, and
keeping liberals out of the courts prove he's two-faced.


Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says videotaped comments that leaked out publicly Thursday show the true prime minister.


"There have always been two Harpers," Ignatieff told a news conference Thursday.


"The real Harper always comes out when he thinks he can't be heard."


He said the real Harper is disdainful of the social institutions
Canadians hold dear, like the justice system, and disrespectful of
other political parties.


Ignatieff also scoffed at the closed-door rallying cry for a
majority. He said he's toured the country this summer and met jobless
Canadians - who would "laugh in your face" if asked whether Harper
deserves a majority.


He said it's no longer possible to work with a man so contemptuous
of basic Canadian values, and reiterated his plan to bring down the
Conservative government.


"(Harper's) already lost the confidence of the House once,"
Ignatieff said, referring to the attempted coalition takedown of the
Tories last year. "He's about to lose it a second time."


For political reasons, Harper has for years avoided uttering his
desire for a majority. But in a private partisan speech that has leaked
out, he repeatedly discusses his desire to achieve one.


In the speech to fellow Tories, Harper also describes how their
party has kept leftists from being appointed to public institutions -
including the courts.


"Imagine how many left-wing ideologues they would be putting in the
courts, federal institutions, agencies, the Senate? I should say, how
many more, they would be putting in," Harper said.


The prime minister expressed pride in having killed off the Court
Challenges Program - a government fund used by what he described as
"left-wing fringe groups."


That fund, created by the Trudeau Liberals, helped fund court cases
by women's groups, minority-language groups, gay-rights groups, and
deaf people who demanded sign language in hospitals.


The Bloc says it's particularly bothered by the comment about the judiciary.


Leader Gilles Duceppe says, behind closed doors, Harper sounds like
a member of the U.S. Republican party - and not even a mainstream one,
but a member of its radical fringe.


The NDP called the remarks low politics that undermined Canada's justice system.


Despite the characterization of Harper as two-faced, none of those
private musings actually contradict anything the prime minister has
ever said publicly.



He has simply avoided discussing them.


Harper learned a hard lesson about the political risk of such talk
toward the end of the 2006 election, as his poll numbers levelled off
after he mused about how Liberal-appointed judges and bureaucrats would
keep him from fully implementing a conservative agenda.


He has also been careful to avoid scaring off moderate voters by
talking about a majority - fearing that some soft Tory and NDP
supporters could make a desperation leap to the Liberals to block him.



But Harper was far chattier in the speech leaked Thursday.



"Let me be clear about this: We need to win a majority in the next election campaign," the prime minister said.


"I am not just saying that because we need a few more seats. We saw
what happened last year. Do not be fooled for a moment. If we do not
get a majority, the Liberals, the NDP, and the Bloc will combine and
they will form a government.


"They will deny this 'til they're blue in the face in an election
campaign but I guarantee it: If we do not win a majority this country
will have a Liberal government propped up by the socialists and the
separatists. . .


"This country cannot afford a government like that. If they force us
to the polls, if they get together and force us to the polls, we have
to teach them a lesson and get back their with a majority to make sure
their little coalition never happens."



Ignatieff ducked questions about the substance of Harper's accusation.



When asked about forming a coalition, Ignatieff simply noted that he killed the one the opposition parties had formed last year.


When asked again whether he was amenable to an informal governing
arrangement with the other parties, Ignatieff sidestepped the question.


When asked whether he would agree with Harper to kill off public
subsidies for political parties - the issue that triggered the
coalition in the first place - he offered no commitment.