Doug Smith

As Many Liars: the Story of the 1995 Manitoba Vote-splitting Scandal Doug Smith

In 1998, Manitoba's Conservative government was oozing confidence and appeared certain to cruise to reelection. But the party had a skeleton in its closet. In the 1995 provincial election, Manitoba Conservatives had financed a supposedly independent Aboriginal candidate in an attempt to divert votes away from the New Democratic Party. The vote splitting scheme was equal parts detective story and comedy of errors, tragedy and farce. Because it had occurred in the hardscrabble Interlake region, carried out by a wildly eccentric cast of characters, some media commentators dismissed the story as a low-rent scandal conducted by political hillbillies. But in fact the caper was masterminded by the permier's principal secretary and supported by two of the province's most distinguished entrepreneurs. This lively, readable book tells the story of the lies and fall of Manitoba's Conservative government, and serves as a reminder that politics is about power and the principles by which a society's wealth is to be distributed.