Manitoba·UpdatedManitoba’s Progressive Conservatives have chosen a Calgary political operative, who has orchestrated several come-from-behind election victories, to lead their next election campaign.Stephen Carter says Manitoba Progressive Conservatives ‘still strong and can be the defining light’Ian Froese · CBC News · Posted: Dec 05, 2025 5:39 PM EST | Last Updated: 16 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 5 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Stephen Carter, who led the mayoral campaign of Naheed Nenshi in 2010 in Calgary, has been tapped to help the Manitoba Progressive Conservatives in their next provincial election campaign. (Sam Martin/CBC)Manitoba’s Progressive Conservatives have chosen a Calgary political operative, who has orchestrated several come-from-behind election victories, to lead their next election campaign.Stephen Carter will be the Tories’ campaign director, the party confirmed Friday.He’s helped elect Jyoti Gondek as Calgary’s first female mayor, Naheed Nenshi as Calgary’s first visible minority mayor and Alison Redford as Alberta’s premier.In each of those races, his candidates started out trailing in the polls — and in Redford’s case, remained behind for the entire campaign — and yet still won.Carter believes the Manitoba PCs “struck a wrong chord by going in the wrong direction” when the party actively campaigned during the 2023 election on its opposition to searching a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two First Nations women. But he argues the party now led by Obby Khan is “doing the right thing now,” and can chart a winning election strategy against the NDP’s Wab Kinew, whom polls suggest is the most popular premier in Canada.Tory path to victory won’t be simple: Carter“I wouldn’t have taken the job if I didn’t think that there was an opportunity and a path for victory,” Carter said.“That path for victory may not be as simple as some of the PC caucus and some of the PC board members think at this point, right? It may not be just pick up a couple seats here and a couple seats there and everything works out and Bob’s your uncle.”Carter said the Tories have recently refreshed their visual identity with a new logo.The change is nice, he said, “but I think you need to redo the actual brand. How do people think of you? What do they say about you?”The Progressive Conservatives held government from 2016 to 2023, when the NDP was swept to power. The Tories lost 13 seats and became the Official Opposition.The next election is slated for Oct. 5, 2027, but Kinew has hinted at calling an earlier vote.Khan has picked a political strategist behind some of the splashiest upsets in Alberta’s recent electoral history.In 2021, he steered Jyoti Gondek’s winning mayoral campaign and later became her chief of staff.Carter led what was hailed as the “purple wave” of Gondek’s predecessor, Naheed Nenshi, who harnessed social media to appeal to a broad cross-section of voters for an unexpected win in 2010.And Progressive Conservative Leader Alison Redford was re-elected premier in 2012 despite the Wildrose party leading in every reputable public opinion poll released before election day.Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan speaks after question period at the legislature on Oct. 16. (Bryce Hoye/CBC)While Carter has supported left-leaning candidates in past elections, he considers himself an “old-school Red Tory,” who’s worked with former prime minister Joe Clark and current Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.“I’ve worked with all kinds of right-wing leaders. I tend not to work with the right right-wing leaders. I would never work with Pierre Poilievre. He hasn’t asked. I also have never worked with the NDP, right?”“So I’m in the middle.” In the recent federal election campaign, he supported Corey Hogan, who won Calgary Confederation for the Liberals.“If you ask me, I believe Mark Carney is running a Progressive Conservative government under a Liberal banner,” Carter said.“That’s why they’re the natural governing party. They move to where the people are — that’s what we need to do with the PCs.”He suggested the Tories may shift to the left or right of the political spectrum on certain issues, but what matters is to reflect voters’ views, and give them something to believe in.”Obby Khan is the leader that has, I think, the best opportunity to reflect and to lead simultaneously,” he said.’Political agnostic’PC party president Peter Smith said Carter is a “political agnostic” with a record of mobilizing large groups of voters.“We know we have to build those coalitions and in some cases rebuild those coalitions. We see that he has the right skill set to do that.”Smith said he doesn’t worry if Carter is conservative enough.“I would be more worried if we hired a campaign manager that didn’t pay attention to the voters and paid more attention to ideology.”Carter said he recognizes the NDP government in Manitoba is popular, but he sees weaknesses in the party. He wouldn’t divulge them in an interview.“Fortunes change. They go up and they go down. That is the nature of provincial politics,” he said.Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said, in response to Carter’s hiring, the only thing he’s focused on is working hard for the people he represents.“And our campaign team is from this province, too.”ABOUT THE AUTHORIan Froese covers the Manitoba Legislature and provincial politics for CBC News in Winnipeg. He also serves as president of the legislature’s press gallery. You can reach him at ian.froese@cbc.ca. Twitter: @ianfroeseWith files from The Canadian Press
Manitoba Tories enlist veteran Alberta strategist to help election campaign efforts
