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Obby Khan is stepping down from his position as leader of Manitoba’s Opposition Progressive Conservatives.
Khan made the announcement just after 5 p.m. CT Monday, after he survived what appears to be a symbolic confidence vote on Friday.
It’s not clear which member of the PC caucus triggered that vote, or for what reason.
Speaking to reporters at the legislature Monday evening, Khan said the votes in that confidence motion were two to one in his favour, but some caucus members were unwilling to accept the results.
He said as a result, if he did not step down, the coming months would have been spent fighting members of his own party, rather than holding the governing NDP to account.
Khan said he will resign from the PC caucus, effective Tuesday, but will continue on as the MLA for the Winnipeg constituency of Fort Whyte, sitting as an Independent.
He became the party leader last year, after former Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson stepped down in early 2024.
He won the leadership in a tightly contested leadership race against Wally Daudrich, a Churchill hotel and ecotourism company owner who has since quit the party.
Khan, who was an entrepreneur and a former football player with the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers before entering politics, was first elected to the Manitoba Legislature in 2022, winning the Fort Whyte seat in Winnipeg in a byelection.
He became leader in a contest sparked by the resignation of Stefanson, who stepped down as party leader months after her PCs lost the fall 2023 provincial election to Wab Kinew’s NDP.
When elected the role last year, Khan became the first Muslim, as well as the first Canadian from a South Asian ethnic background, to lead the party.
Currently, the Tories hold 20 seats in the 57-seat Manitoba Legislature. The governing NDP have 34, the Liberals hold one and there are two Independents.
The next provincial election is not slated until October 2027.
Under the PC Party’s constitution, a new leadership race can only be triggered at this point in the election cycle if the position becomes vacant, the leader ends up mentally or physically incapacitated, the leader requests a leadership race or a simple majority of PC members vote in favour of a race at a general meeting.
Manitoba’s legislature is slated to resume on Tuesday.
The PC Party said as of Monday evening, it did not yet know who will be serving as interim Opposition leader.
More to come.
