The Tory minister for Manitoba, Vic Toews, tees off on his hometown paper

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews (above as snapped by the Sun’s Andre Forget) – who represents the southeastern Manitoba riding of Provencher and who is the Harper government’s political minister for Manitoba — is no fan of the province’s “paper of record”, the Winnipeg Free Press. (Full disclosure: My chain’s horse in that race is the Freep’s competitor the Winnipeg Sun.).

But I would go so far as to say, Toews is sceptical of the worth of all of us in the mainstream media. Last year, Toews took a nasty swipe at me and the Freep‘s Ottawa bureau chief Mia Rabson [full disclosure again: At the time I was working for Canwest/Postmedia and Mia was my office colleague] for the reporting we did at the beginning of the Rahim Jaffer affair.

Toews – to give you a bit of background — was Harper’s first justice minister, then moved to Treasury Board before being moved over to Public Safety. He is also a lawyer, a former attorney general for Manitoba and the Ottawa rumour mill has him in line for a seat on Manitoba’s Court of Queen’s Bench.

All if which is to say: Toews is a well-educated guy and he’s part of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s inner circle. That’s why we’re interested in what he tells his supporters and, tonight, Toews goes after Free Press columnist Dan Lett. Lett’s column “Political combat in south Winnipeg” spurred Toews to send the following e-mail message to his supporters:

Dear Friends, Colleagues and Others,

The word is in, according to Winnipeg Free Press columnist Dan Lett that is. Here’s Lett’s take on what will happen in Manitoba in the next federal election.

“… a quick examination of Manitoba’s 14 federal ridings shows clearly that…only three seats in the province with any chance of changing hands. If you’re a federal party leader and you’re going to campaign in Manitoba, you’d be wise to stay south of the Assiniboine River.”

It must have been a very quick examination, despite Lett’s insistence that the outcome is “clear”.

Perhaps it’s about the same amount of time that Lett spent during the 2006 election just before Rod Bruinooge snatched Winnipeg South from then cabinet minister Reg Alcock by a little over a hundred votes, and then consolidated that win by over 5,000 votes from another impressive Liberal candidate in 2008.

Or perhaps it’s the same amount of time he spent during the 2008 election campaign when everyone at the Winnipeg Free Press confirmed that their party’s candidate in St. Boniface would safely retain that seat, while condescendingly acknowledging that although Shelly Glover was a good candidate she was in the wrong riding if she wanted to be a Conservative MP.

And moving outside of Winnipeg for a moment – who can forget his insightful analysis of my own slim chances in Provencher in the last election? [Wishing Toews would provide a link here to this one – Akin]

But we can be sure Jack Layton will take Lett’s advice seriously: be “wise” and stay south of the Assiniboine River. He’ll just forget about his party’s recent byelection loss in North Winnipeg where only 30 percent of the electorate turned out to give a well known Winnipeg Free Press candidate a squeaker of a victory in a riding where some have said that New Democrat party membership applications are handed to babies when they leave the maternity ward. [That would be Liberal Kevin Lamoureux’s upset byelection victory in the riding long held by the NDP’s Judy Wasylycia-Leis – Akin]

Oh, and Dan, what about Winnipeg Transcona where the New Democrat MP won a hard fought battle against a Conservative by about the same margin as the Liberal victory in Winnipeg South Centre? [That would be Jim Maloway who, with 45.8 % of the vote beat 2nd place finisher Thomas Steen who took 40.7% of the vote – Akin] Yup, just keep on walking down the road without a sideways glance across the railroad tracks if you are the Conservative leader.

What an analysis, but is it really as “wise” as Lett himself characterizes his own advice?

Really, after the quick look and all of the fluff, isn’t this article just about Lett making sure that his Liberal candidate in Winnipeg South [Conservative MP Rod Bruinooge is the incumbent – Akin], Terry Duguid, is given another bit of glowing press, stating:

“If Duguid doesn’t win the riding, it won’t be for lack of effort. He remains perhaps the hardest-working candidate in the province, knocking on doors, organizing events and getting his name and picture in the media more than a lot of sitting MPs.”

Gee Dan, is it just my imagination, or is it usually in your articles where I ever see Duguid’s name? And I’m not even counting the times when you cite him as your “reliable unnamed source” when no one credible is willing to help you flog your pet theories and assorted conspiracies publicly. (Note to reader: I have to admit that I am naturally suspicious when a Winnipeg Free Press reporter calls an unnamed source “reliable”. Why not name the source and let the readers determine if he is “reliable”?)

But, getting back to your “quick examination” Dan, may I suggest you have another quick look at the rest of the electoral map of Manitoba? Let us know what you think of the other close races in the province. Not that I am actually interested in your analysis but I am curious if you can talk about them without mentioning your Liberal  colleague in Winnipeg South.

And a bit of friendly advice – if you are going to take another quick look at those ridings, perhaps you might want to check with your optometrist first to determine whether the rose coloured glasses you insist on wearing on the job impede your ability to determine what is actually going on around you.