Manitoba Progressive Conservative leader and former premier Heather Stefanson has announced she will resign as party head on Monday.
Stefanson had already indicated her plan to resign after losing the Oct. 3 provincial election, but she set a departure date today as Tory delegates met to set down rules for the next leadership race.
Stefanson became premier in 2021 after former premier Brian Pallister resigned.
She says she was proud to be the province’s first female premier and knows she will not be the last.
Stefanson says she will be keeping her legislature seat for the time being, and hinted she may open the seat if the party’s next leader comes from outside caucus.
Tory delegates are debating a number of proposed changes to their leadership election rules, including moving away from the current one-member-one-vote system.
The Tories are looking to avoid a repeat of their last leadership race in 2021, when many people did not receive ballots in time to vote by mail.
Leadership contender Shelly Glover lost the race to Stefanson by a narrow margin and challenged the results in court, but a judge ruled Glover failed to show there were any irregularities that would have affected the outcome.
The party’s executive is recommending a formula that would cap the influence of constituencies with large membership numbers, but some party members are against the idea.