Glover defends claim of voting irregularities in Manitoba Tory leadership challenge
Shelly Glover says she believes a spreadsheet her campaign team received before Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson was named winner of the Progressive Conservative leadership vote is correct.
Glover, who lost to Stefanson by a narrow margin on Oct. 30, alleges there were irregularities when ballots were counted and she wants a judge to order a new vote.
Glover says she doesn't believe the total count by Progressive Conservative Party election officials, which found she received 49 per cent of the vote.
"It's unfathomable for me to think of how we got to that number," Glover said Tuesday during a cross-examination of her affidavit in Court of Queen's Bench.
When the final results were announced, the ballots totalled 16,546, with Stefanson winning 51 per cent. The win also made Stefanson premier, replacing Brian Pallister, who resigned in September
Progressive Conservative Party leadership has said that the leadership election was fair.
Party president Tom Wiebe told court Monday that campaign leaders were aware the spreadsheet was never intended to be the final tally.
Wiebe, during cross-examination of his affidavit, defended the count and said "that spreadsheet was strictly to tell them who had voted."
Glover's team was given the spreadsheet early in the morning and she told court it included the names of 16,045 people who voted.
Glover, a former member of Parliament, said she did not observe votes being counted. But since the election, she said, she has recounted the total and believes the spreadsheet contains the right number.
"I believe it's correct."
Much of Tuesday's cross-examination focused on members of Glover's campaign team and how they analyzed the spreadsheet, other documents and emails to conclude that voting irregularities had taken place.
Harley Schachter, the lawyer for the Progressive Conservative Party, posed to Glover's team that there were errors in the spreadsheet so it was clearly not meant to be used as a reflection of the total vote.
He added that the reading of numbers by Glover's campaign also doesn't add up.
The challenge is next scheduled for arguments before a judge on Dec. 10.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 30, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
The story of how a B.C. man found his birth mother
After his adopted parents died, Dave Rogers set out to learn more about his birth mother. DNA results and a little help from friendly strangers would put him on a path to a small town in England.
When grief and AI collide: These people are communicating with the dead
AI tools can offer recommendations, answer questions and 'talk' with users. But some users are using them to recreate the likeness of the dead.
Spike in 'violent rhetoric' since Oct. 7 attack from 'extremist actors,' CSIS warns
The Israel-Hamas war has led to a spike in 'violent rhetoric' from 'extremist actors' that could prompt some in Canada to turn to violence, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service warns.
Montreal man on the hook for thousands of dollars after a feature on his Tesla caused an accident
A Montreal man is warning Tesla drivers about using the Smart Summon feature after his vehicle hit another in a parking lot.
Italy's white-collar mafia is making a business killing
Italy's mafia rarely dirties its hands with blood these days. Extortion rackets have gone out of fashion and murders are largely frowned upon by the godfathers.
WestJet, mechanics union agree to tentative deal to avoid strike
A potential strike between WestJet and its mechanics union appears to have been avoided.
Prosecutors move deeper into Trump's orbit as testimony in hush money trial enters a third week
Prosecutors in Donald Trump's hush money trial are moving deeper into his orbit following an inside-the-room account about the former president's reaction to a politically damaging recording that surfaced in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign.
Russia announces nuclear weapon drills after angry exchange with senior Western officials
Russia plans to hold drills simulating the use of battlefield nuclear weapons, the Defense Ministry announced Monday, days after the Kremlin reacted angrily to comments by senior Western officials about the war in Ukraine and Moscow warned that tensions with the West are deepening.
Summer forecast: What to expect as El Nino weakens
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.