| "as Many Liars": The Story of the 1995 Manitoba Vote-Splitting Scandal Contributor(s): Smith, Doug (Author) |
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ISBN: 1894037197 ISBN-13: 9781894037198 Publisher: Arp Books OUR PRICE: $16.16 Product Type: Paperback Published: November 2003 Annotation: 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. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Political Science | Political Process - Campaigns & Elections - History | Canada - General - Political Science | Political Process - Political Parties |
| Dewey: 971.270 |
| LCCN: 2003374458 |
| Physical Information: 248 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In 1998, Manitoba's Conservative government was oozing confidence and appeared certain to cruise to re-election under Premier Gary Filmon. But when a local radio reporter began to investigate rumours about Conservative dirty tricks in the last provincial election, he broke open the scandal that led to a riveting public inquiry, and ultimately to the fall of the government. The Conservatives' 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 premier's principal secretary and supported by two of the province's most distinguished entrepreneurs. |
Contributor Bio(s): Smith, Doug: - Doug Smith has written or co-written ten books, including How To Tax a Billionaire: Project Loophole and the Campaign for Tax Fairness, Consulted to Death: How Canada's Workplace Health and Safety System Fails Its Workers, and Joe Zucken: Citizen and Socialist, which won the Manitoba Historical Society's Margaret McWilliams Award. "As Many Liars" was nominated for the 2003 Manitoba Book Awards' Alexander Kennedy Isbister Award for Non-fiction. |