Provencher PPCs pick Sturby

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This article was published 23/07/2019 (2190 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Members of the People’s Party of Canada in Provencher have elected Wayne Sturby to represent the party in the upcoming federal election.

Apart from the three candidates and two electoral district association (EDA) members, only eight people showed up for last Thursday’s nomination vote, which took place at the Pat Porter Active Living Centre in Steinbach.

Board member Sheridan Wiens said the low turnout doesn’t reflect their PPC party membership base, which currently stands at about 86 members.

Noel Gautron and Shane Thiessen vied with Sturby for the nomination.

Sturby must now step down as president of the PPC Provencher EDA, which began meeting last November. A successor will be chosen at an upcoming EDA meeting.

Sturby, 62, is not new to politics. In 2016, the Lorette resident made an unsuccessful bid for the provincial Progressive Conservative nomination in Dawson Trail. He then campaigned for the Manitoba Party in Winnipeg’s Wolseley riding.

Sturby said his interest in politics has a lot to do with his nine years as a corrections officer at Headingley Correctional Centre.

He said talking with inmates at the centre has caused him to focus on issues with the justice system, including minimum sentencing and how offenders are treated.

“Even though they are incarcerated, even though they’ve broken the law, many of them have never even once heard that their life matters,” he said.

Although Sturby supported the federal Conservatives in the past, he said he joined the PPC because he doesn’t like Andrew Scheer’s leadership approach.

“Andrew Scheer has gone on the record as saying he is a ‘pragmatic centrist,’” said Sturby. “And I hate both of those words with a passion.”

When asked by a PPC member if he’s worried about splitting the right-wing vote, Sturby replied by saying the PPC is the only party that truly stands for conservative values.

“I never see it as splitting the right because the Conservative party is not right,” he said.

Sturby said his greatest strength will be his ability to debate incumbent MP Ted Falk and ask tough questions.

He said he doesn’t take issue with Falk’s leadership style, just his alignment with the Conservative party.