Farmer’s daughter leads to love of animals Keystone Party trying to feed hunger for change

Manitoba is about to experience a fifth political party. Only three parties, the Progressive Conservatives, the NDP and the Liberals have seats in the Manitoba legislature. The Green Party doesn’t have a seat and as far as I can remember, it never has. There are a number of other parties that can, at best be called fringe parties but party number five, the Keystone Party, may be a force to be reckoned with starting this year.

Last week, the Keystone Party held a meeting last week in Gladstone, one of several with a few more planned around the province. Keystone leader Kevin Friesen, a Manitou farmer, outlined their platform. Some of the key points focused on fundamental rights and personal freedoms. As well, they trumpeted a need for limitations to government size and spending, the importance for equal distribution of health care and education opportunities and a tougher stance on crime.

Most Manitobans would see these as desirable goals although the NDP and Liberal parties tend to get a bit carried away on spending a lot of borrowed money and appear to be softer on crime than the PCs. The question needs to be asked, why a new party and why now?

New parties almost always emerge out of discontent with the status quo. The seeds of discontent in Manitoba have had a fairly large garden to grow in. The perceived need for a new party is largely sprouting in the garden known as the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba.

To understand why that is happening it’s necessary to go back to the 1980s and 90s. The political success of PC Premier Gary Filmon ruled the 90s decade. Filmon won three consecutive elections and only lost the fourth because