A court has adjourned defeated candidate Shelly Glover’s case to overturn the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party’s leadership vote until November 19.
That’s when a hearing will be held to determine if the court has jurisdiction over Glover’s challenge of the race results and if the matter should be dealt with as a lawsuit or a judicial review of the disputed outcome.
It’s also four days before declared winner, Premier Heather Stefanson, is scheduled to deliver her Throne Speech.
Tuxedo MLA Stefanson, 51, was sworn in as premier November 2, the same day her sole opponent, former police officer and federal heritage minister, Glover, 54, filed a court application asking the Court of Queen’s Bench to overturn the leadership results and order a new election.
Citing “substantial irregularities” in the vote count and supervision of ballots at the October 30 event, Glover refuses to concede.
A meeting with the PC election committee Wednesday failed to convince Glover the race was fair and conducted without favour.
In court Thursday, Glover’s lawyer David Hill requested an expedited hearing. A request by PC party lawyers for a longer delay was denied by Justice James Edmond on the grounds that Manitobans deserve a timely answer.
The court said Stefanson has until November 15 to decide if she wants to be party to the matter.
Stefanson dismissed Glover’s refusal to accept the result as “disappointing” and said it won’t throw her off “our game, our focus.”
Glover insists Stefanson’s anointing is invalid because “Manitobans chose me.”
Stefanson was declared winner by 363 mail-in ballots.
However, court documents filed by Glover allege there were irregularities with the vote count and issues with unsecured ballot boxes.
Hill alleged these irregularities were “calculated to affect the result.”
Glover claimed that at 12:27 p.m. that day the party provided her campaign with a spreadsheet declaring 16,045 votes were counted and she received 8,042, which would have meant she was the new party leader and premier-designate.
When PC president Tom Wiebe announced the result at 5 p.m. he said Stefanson received 8,405 votes. Another 82 ballots were spoiled, with17 more disputed.
Glover said if the number of ballots was 16,045, her opponent would have received only 7,904. That would have meant the number of votes counted would have increased to 16,546, not the 16,045 her team was presented with earlier.
Documents filed contain an affidavit from Kevin Cook, a Glover scrutinizer and retired Winnipeg police officer who, as he followed the count, believed Glover was ahead 500 votes. Cook alleges he saw people, supervised by party president Tom Wiebe, remove unsecured ballot boxes from the room.
Glover has said her entry to the race was encumbered with a series of hurdles including the need to scramble to get her campaign off the ground because of the short window of time provided. Stefanson had a big headstart.
As well, party members complained they were unable to cast votes because ballots weren’t received.
Stefanson and Glover agreed that at least 1,200 ballots weren’t delivered, despite claims to the contrary by party officials.
Membership jumped from about 4,500 to more than 25,000 in three weeks. Party officials blamed the surge and COVID-19 for the delay in getting ballots to members.
Glover supporters protested in front of party headquarters in Winnipeg the day after the election. Many who claim they were unable to vote are urging her to not concede.
At her swearing-in ceremony, Stefanson promised to focus on unifying the party and winning back the trust Manitobans lost under the dictatorial reign of former premier Brian Pallister, who resigned September 1.
“I will always listen to you, the people of Manitoba,” said Stefanson.
Slobodian is the Senior Manitoba Columnist for the Western Standard
lslobodian@westernstandardonline.com
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