Now that the dust is settling from the federal election, Manitobans can turn their political attention to another contest that will be heating up sooner rather than later: the leadership race for Manitoba's Progressive Conservative Party. There are a number of names that have been tossed around by media and the inner circle of the Opposition party, but one politician stands out above the rest, Brian Pallister, the recently re-elected MP for Portage-Lisgar.

For the past few months many have attempted to get Pallister to answer the question of whether or not he is going to run in the leadership race, set for April 29, 2006. On election night, Pallister told media that he is not committing to anything other than enjoying the victory the constituents of Portage-Lisgar had just given him. But will the newly re-elected MP's first act be to turn his back on those same constituents Now that would be political hubris.

It has to be said that a lot of what happens in the political arena is based on unsubstantiated rumour and gossip, but not necessarily in this case. Pallister is known to have contacted provincial Conservative MLAs for more than just a friendly chat amongst Tories. He is meeting with former provincial organizers and back in November of 2005 he issued a letter (on MP letterhead) to ten people across the country looking for their advice on how to strengthen Manitoba and get rid of the "have-not" label our province has perpetually hanging over its head.

All of these examples on their own would be rather innocuous. Add them all up and one could conclude that it's a leadership race in the making. So that brings us to the logical question of why would he run for re-election federally, then almost immediately jump ship back to provincial politics

Looking at the dollars and cents of it, Pallister's crushing victory in this election garnered him 25,719 votes or 69.8 per cent of the vote. Under new rules for election financing, his re-election cost taxpayers $46,037 courtesy of the $1.79 per vote each party receives. In addition to that, he will be reimbursed 60 per cent of his election expenses since he received over 10 per cent of the popular vote. If Pallister does resign his federal seat in the next couple of weeks, a bi-election will have to be called costing taxpayers another $65,000. Not exactly sound fiscal stewardship of tax dollars.

When Pallister served as an MLA and cabinet minister in the former Filmon government, he took a positive role in reforming the obscenely generous MLA pension plan. One would have expected he would take the same principled approach when deciding whether or not he plans on making a run to be provincial Opposition Leader.

One of the biggest challenges with the current NDP government is their proclivity to spend tax dollars as if it was going out of style. Should members of the PC Party of Manitoba choose to give Mr. Pallister the reigns to lead them into the next election, his costly and unnecessary political two-step will hurt his credibility in demanding responsible use of tax dollars.

For the sake of democratic accountability, Mr. Pallister should immediately signal his intention not to seek the leadership of the PC Party. He should instead respect the voters and serve out his term as newly re-elected MP in Ottawa. If the MP-elect decides to wait until after prime minister-designate Stephen Harper names his cabinet it will only add to the jaded feelings voters have towards politics and politicians. They, looking after number one, while taxpayers are left standing in number two.