Manitoba Liberal chief of staff, Fort Whyte candidate resign

The Manitoba LiberalParty leader'schief of staff has resigned,as has his girlfriend Stephanie Danylukthe Liberal candidate inFort Whyte.

Spencer Fernando has steppedawayfrom the party just weeks ahead of the provincial election.

"I recognize that there's really no good time to do it. The longer I waited, the worse it would have been,"Fernando said. "Every day you get closer to the electionit's worse, so better to do it now than obviously during the election, or closer to it."

It speaks to a tension in the campaign organization that should not be there this close to an election.- Royce Koop

Fernando resigned Friday;Danylukresigned Monday. Both resigned via email.Fernando wouldn't comment on whether he andDanylukco-ordinatedtheir departures from the party.

"After dedicating nearly10 years to political life, I have come to the difficult personal realization that politics is no longer the career path for me at this time," Fernando said in the resignationstatement he sent to the party Friday.

"There is a big world outside of politics, which I look forward to exploring. I wishRanaBokhari, my former colleaguesand the Manitoba Liberal team all the best."

Fernando said he has spoken with the party president since submitting his resignation, but has yet to hear from Bokhari. Neither Fernando nor Danyluk attended the party's annual general meeting on Saturday, he added.

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'Hate to lose key staff'

"You hate to lose key staff this close to an election," said MikeBrown, Manitoba Liberal Party communications director. "But politics is politics and sometimes people leave for their own reasons. If I was a mind reader I could tell you what those reasons are, but I can't."

Royce Koop, a University of Manitoba political science professor, said losing a chief of staff and candidate so close to an election makes for"very bad" optics and is possibly a sign of party innerturmoil.

"It speaks to a tension in the campaign organization that should not be there this close to an election,"Koop said.

Brown responded to Koop's comments, saying resignations at this point in the game typically do have moreof an impact onsmaller parties like the provincial Liberals.

"When you're a smaller party, it's harder to lose people no doubt about that,"he said. "By the same token, when you're a smaller party, you're nimble and you adjust."

Brown added the partyis taking a step back now to figure out who can fill the void left inFort Whyte by Danyluk.

"People have expressed interest over the course of time. I think it's time we need to go back and have a look at those people now."

Fernando's history in politics

Before joining the Liberals, Fernando worked for both theConservative Party of Canada and the Manitoba Progressive Conservatives.

Fernandopreviously worked as a staffer for Rod Bruinooge, the federal Conservative MP for theWinnipeg South riding from2006 to 2015.

He moved on and worked forthe PCs, but the party dropped Fernando after he wrote a blogposturging the federal Conservatives to consider changingthe partystance on an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women.

The Stephen Harper-led Conservatives were against an inquiry at the time.

Fernando said he will be working with his father at his photography business. He hasn't completely shut out the possibility of re-entering the political arena down the line, buthas a hard time imagining what it would take for that to happen, Fernando said.

"I would never say never, but at this point it's not something I contemplate any time soon," Fernando said.

Manitobanshead to the polls April 19.