by Donald Swainson
Queen's University, Kingston
Manitoba History, Number 4, 1982
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There can be no doubt about the fact that Manitoba’s political system has undergone a revolution. Partisanship dominated during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In succession Thomas Greenway, Hugh John Macdonald, Rodmond Roblin, and Tobias Norris governed the province from 1888 to 1922. Norris possessed some genuine reform impulses, but in essence these men were all of the centre-right. Nobody was ever confused about their party affiliations: Tories hated Grits and Grits hated Tories.
Then came the long years of political and ideological aridity introduced by John Bracken. He was premier for two decades and it is still difficult to be sure of his position. Bracken led the farmers and at various times co-operated with the provincial Conservatives, Liberals, Social Crediters and C.C.F-ers. He ended his career as leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party. Bracken reduced the province’s political system to mush and came close to wrecking both responsible government and parliamentary democracy.
Bracken’s successors, Stuart Carson and Douglas Camp-bell, held the reins from1942-58. The anti-party bias carried through during those years, but was gradually eroded. By 1958the party system had been restored and policy debate was vibrant and productive.
Duff Roblin governed for a decade. His was a genuine three-party province, with the Liberals on the right, the C.C.F./N.D.P. on the left and the Progressive Conservatives in the reforming centre. When Roblin left Manitoba to make an unsuccessful bid for federal glory, space was created for yet more change. His successor, Walter Weir, moved the Tories to the right At about the same time the Liberals made Bobby Bend, a political ghost from the Campbell era, their leader - the N.D.P. selected Ed Schreyer a few days before the 1969 general election. With Grits and Tories battling it out on the right, it was easy for Schreyer and the N.D.P. to retain the left and veer sharply into the centre.
The election results were stunning. Schreyer and his candidates won, albeit with a minority of both votes and legislative seats. A third party that paid lip service to socialism was able to form a government.
A key question that was much asked after 1969 concerned the nature of Schreyer’s victory. Was it a flash in the pan? Were the new patterns permanent or at least long-term? The subsequent dozen years told the story. The 1969 election was indeed a watershed election. The N.D.P. is now a permanent part of Manitoba’s system. This was proven by the elections of 1973, 1977 and 1981. True, the party lost in 1977. Nonetheless, it remained strongly competitive.
Russell Doern
Source: Russell Doern, MLA
Another major part of the province’s pattern was not set in 1969. After that election Manitoba was still a three-party province. That has changed. The Liberal Party declined with each succeeding election and vanished in 1981. Manitoba, like every other province but Ontario, is now a two-party operation. The N.D.P., a trendy and sanitized organization. seems to be a sort of surrogate provincial Liberal Party. The Tories constitute a centre-right party that can tilt either way. Both parties have substantial strength in Winnipeg and the province. Political competition is real and sustained.
Even a cursory glance at the political history of Manitoba makes clear the centrality of the Schreyer years. That was a pivotal period that must be understood if Manitoba is to be understood. One would think that a memoir by one of Schreyer’s ministers would be revealing and important. Unfortunately, such is not the case with Russell Doern’s Wednesdays are Cabinet Days.
Doern tells us little that is either useful or interesting. True, we learn that he thought up the “Schreyer Dolls” gimmick and coined the appalling slogan, “Higher with Schreyer.” We relive the great struggle over the decision to invite John Lennon to Manitoba for the province’s centennial celebrations in 1970. We are taken through the warfare between Mayor Juba and Russell Doern over the governments plan to construct a public washroom on Broadway. The great debates between Doern and such media heavyweights as John Harvard and Bill Trebilcoe are recounted. A ponderous account of Doern’s pathetic attempt to succeed Schreyer as leader is included. We are given a glimpse of such unusual Manitoba personalities as Mike Kibsey, Kenneth Gunn-Walberg, Buzz Paulley and Larry Desjardins.
The problem is that we learn virtually nothing about Manitoba politics, the Schreyer administration, or the functionings of government. We do get some insights into Russell Doern. His book is ideologically neutral. It could have been written by a New Democrat, a Liberal or a Conservative.
However, the likelihood is that it should never have been written at all. Doern makes clear his aspiration to get a second crack at office. He notes the propensity of Schreyer’s ministers to lunch on Chinese food, which he does not like, and comments “In preparation for our next round at the cabinet table, I’ve sworn off Chinese food.” He even gives his leader some advice: “Pawley can select cabinet members from the following professionals: Larry Desjardins. Len Evans, Bill Uruski, Sam Uskiw, and yours truly, Russell Doern.” Premier Pawley accepted 80% of this counsel: all the “professionals” are in Pawley’s cabinet with the exception of Russell Doern. Maybe Pawley was influenced by the decision to quit eating Chinese food; perhaps he did not want memoir writers sitting at the cabinet table; or it is possible that he read the book and concluded that it was so lacking in substance that it deprived its author of the kind of intellectual credibility often desired in a minister of the crown.
Page revised: 24 March 2011
