Daudrich targets PCs who feel party should turn harder right

Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Wally Daudrich doesn't seem to mind that some Tories might think his claim Manitoba schools are promoting acts of bestiality and incest is impossible to believe.

He isn't courting their vote when ballots are cast to pick a new leader.

Instead, Daudrich, one of two people vying for leadership of Manitoba's Official Opposition, is going after the thousands of social conservatives who worry about what kids are learning in school, and are happy to reignite the debate over parental rights. 

If enough of their support is spread throughout the province, it could be enough for Daudrich, a self-described outsider, to become the new leader of the Manitoba Tories, rather than Obby Khan, a two-term sitting MLA considered the choice of the party establishment.

More than 16,400 people voted in the last PC leadership race in 2021, which used a one-member, one-vote system. This time around, the Tories are using a weighted system that caps the influence of constituencies with large numbers of party members. It requires the leadership hopefuls to seek broad-based support.

To some of the social conservatives Daudrich is trying to woo it won't matter that he's produced no evidence that books describing bestiality and incest exist, after bringing it up at Wednesday's leadership debate. Nor does it matter how inconceivable it appears that any library, yet alone ones in school, would carry literature describing and promoting criminal activities.

And news coverage of Daudrich's explosive allegation probably isn't a death knell to his campaign. In fact, it might help him sell memberships.

WATCH | Daudrich claims pornographic books in schools, but provides no evidence:

Daudrich, a Churchill hotelier and ecotourism operator, is "tapping into a very rich vein within the psyche of the Progressive Conservative Party of people who are right of centre, who feel they should have control over how their kids are taught," said Christopher Adams, an adjunct professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba.

Such rhetoric might not resonate in a general election, Adams said, "but it might be a good strategy on his part to shake things up and find a large base of support that's separate from Obby Khan's support."

Daudrich and Khan only have until Friday to sign up new members. Voting starts in March and the winner will be announced on April 26.

Daudrich's wooing of the party's right-wing flank is happening as conservatives are feeling emboldened.

Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is finding success in the polls, all while being unapologetically conservative and railing against the "radical woke agenda." Many conservatives also support U.S. President Donald Trump, who's targeted illegal immigration, diversity initiatives and cut thousands of jobs in his first month on the job, though his disrespect of Canada has soured some people's opinion of him.

Perhaps influenced by the current receptiveness to right-wing ideas, Daudrich hasn't shied away from controversial opinions.