Shelly Glover has her day in court, lawyers argue over legal challenge of PC leadership vote

FULL: Manitoba PC Leadership Court Challenge Candidate Shelly Glover challenges the Manitoba Progressive Conservatives about the leadership race won by Premier Heather Stefanson.

WINNIPEG — Shelly Glover had her day in court on Friday to argue why Manitoba's Progressive Conservative leadership results should be thrown out.

Premier Heather Stefanson defeated Glover by a slim margin to become the new party leader. Glover is challenging the election results in court claiming several irregularities with the vote count.

On Friday in Manitoba's Court of Queen's Bench, Glover's lawyer Dave Hill told Justice James Edmond there are many unanswered questions about the PC leadership vote count, the results should be thrown out and a new vote held.

“The irregularities here are so numerous,” Hill told the court in his submissions.

Stefanson defeated Glover by 363 votes on October 30 at the Victoria Inn and was sworn in as Manitoba's first female Premier days later.

During the one-day hearing on Friday, Hill questioned why unsealed ballots in boxes were removed from the count room, and why some tally sheets were not signed by scrutineers and election officials.

“The tally sheets can’t be accepted by this court or relied upon by this court, in terms of the number of votes,” he said.

However, at the heart of Glover’s argument, is a list of voters sent to the campaigns hours before the count. Glover says it shows a lower number of total votes compared to the figure announced with the results.

The PC Party has said that list contained errors.

“Why would you send out a voters' list or voting list if it’s full of inaccuracies? It doesn’t make any sense,” said Hill.

PC Party Lawyer Harley Schachter told court all tally sheet totals from the count room were agreed upon by scrutineers from both sides.

“The tally sheets are the best evidence as to the number of valid ballots to be counted,” said Schachter.

He argued everyone involved in the campaigns knew the voters' list was not to be relied upon.

“The election was fair, Heather Stefanson won, she got more votes than Miss Glover,” said Schachter.

Jonathan Kroft, the lawyer representing Stefanson who is an intervener in the case, argued when it comes to the list known as the spreadsheet, Glover’s math does not add up.

“It is interesting that Miss Glover has not asked for a recount,” said Kroft.

Justice Edmond reserved his decision for another day but said he wants to have this done promptly. He said he will try to have a decision by the end of next week.

The court has granted a motion filed by CTV News along with other local broadcasters to have cameras in the courtroom. The full court proceedings will be available to watch on the CTV News Winnipeg website by 9 p.m. on Dec. 10, 2021.