Nine hours before the polls closed Tuesday night in the Concordia
byelection, Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative leader Hugh McFadyen
conceded defeat for excited, hard-working candidate Brian Biebrich and
his own party.
“I expect the NDP will ‘Own the Podium’ when it comes to Concordia
tonight. We don’t have any champagne on ice at party headquarters,”
McFadyen said shortly after voting had nicely gotten underway.
Yes it was the seat of long-time popular Premier Gary Doer, smack
dab in the middle of fertile NDP electoral territory, but this was the
best chance in decades for the Conservatives to steal it away.
His loyalists will say McFadyen was just being honest. Why mislead
people that the party had a hope when they didn’t? Truthfully he would
have looked even more ridiculous if he’d predicted a Tory win but the
issue is McFadyen’s political image and his appeal to Manitobans.
How can McFadyen show so much disrespect to Biebrich and those who
worked hard for him for a number of weeks? Talk about champagne — with
uninspiring leadership like this, McFadyen’s Conservatives won’t need
to put theirs on ice for many more years.
How in Heaven’s name do you inspire your troops by calling them
losers before eligible voters even vote? What kind of a message does it
send to potential supporters who may have been undecided? And how do
future Conservative candidates now see him since he failed to stand
behind his guy during an important byelection?
For what it’s worth, he was right. The Conservatives were trounced
finishing second — not that much ahead of the Liberals. NDPer Matt
Wiebe got 2,065 votes compared to Biebrich’s 694. Surprisingly the
Liberals only trailed the Conservatives by 81 votes.
You can’t help but feel sorry for Biebrich. He fought a hard
campaign and was focused on winning as he pointed out the day before.
“We’ve got a good opportunity. Lots of people say they’re going to
give me their vote,” he told the Sun. McFadyen’s comments must have
stung badly. And yet Biebrich seemed to deflect it best he could.
“I think when you go to the Olympics, you don’t win the first time.
This is my first time in the race and there will be many Olympics
ahead,” he said after the vote.
A brave face indeed. But Biebrich, the party and all Manitobans
should be disappointed in McFadyen. You back your team and keep them
excited and confident even in the face of imminent defeat.
It’s just one more reason why McFadyen isn’t premier material.
— Paul Rutherford, Winnipeg Sun
the winnipeg sandbox
