PC Party Leader candidate Wally Daudrich is a long-time board member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba and a business owner who shares his time in Churchill and Morden.
"My wife and I love the area. We recently purchased the house actually just a month ago, but we did purchase a house three years ago in Morden. We love the area; we love the people. We did a lot of business here with our business and Churchill. So, we got to know some really good people. Recently we started becoming more active in the community."
A snowmobile accident last May in Churchill brought Daudrich to Boundary Trails Health Centre for treatment where he learned about the expansion project and the many donors from the area who contribute to the hospital and decided to give back as well.
Daudrich outlined why he is running for the position of leader of the PC party.
"In my business, I manage things, and I think we do a really, really good job and I'd like to come into the Progressive Conservative Party as leader to manage. I believe we've been mismanaged, and we need to change a few things, more than just moving the furniture around, but we need to welcome back some members of the party that felt that they were not respected and that's our grassroots primarily. So, working men and women of Manitoba that's why I'm here is to bring them back into the party and unite us into a great big party."
When asked what shaped him as a Manitoban and a leader, this was his response.
"Very easily my faith, my family, and my friends. Again, looking back at my parents how I was raised the values the immigrant values that my parents had of hard work, of thrift, and dedication to my faith and family."
He said the PC Party and NDP government face the same issues, but his party has the answers.
"It all comes down to a lack of money."
And, Daudrich feels he has the skill set, as a businessperson, to grow the economy and make it flourish so everyone can make more money, giving the province the ability to address the issues.
"In my business and in my life, what I like to do when I see a problem is I look at it and I mentally take things apart, so it's kind of like deconstructing the problem, so you can find a solution by taking all the component parts apart, putting it back together and say I wonder how that problem started and how can we solve it. So, I would tackle all the issues that I see with that skill set."
He highlighted just a few of these issues.
"Infrastructure, you can see, is crumbling around us, healthcare, we need more money for healthcare, and then also law and order. You can see things in that area, we are operating on budgets that are decades old, and we need to increase money for all of these issues."
Through "Servant Leadership" Daudrich plans to lead and guide the party through the difficulties it is facing.
"In my business experience, that's how we are successful is because we serve others and in my role as leader of the party and eventual leader of the government, I want to be a servant to the people. That means addressing issues now that would involve our grassroots and bringing them back in and showing them how valuable they are and how valuable their opinion is to me and all of Manitoba."
The election for the new leader of the PC Party will be held on April 26, 2025, at the Leadership Convention where it will be decided who will lead the PC Party Wally Daudrich or MLA for Fort White Obby Khan.