[3] Heeney was serving as the reeve of the Rural Municipality of Elton in 1983 when he became active in a provincial controversy over the entrenchment of francophone services.
[4] At the time, NDP Premier Howard Pawley was attempting to reintroduce French-language services into the province's parliament and legal system.
Heeney spoke out against the initiative at a public meeting in Brandon, claiming that it would effectively amount to granting special privileges for only 6% of Manitoba's population.
Heeney subsequently became involved in Manitoba Grassroots,[4] an anti-bilingualism coalition led by renegade NDP backbencher Russell Doern.
Although this result was fairly respectable for a newly formed party, it disappointed many CoR supporters who hoped that at least a few of their candidates would be elected.