At the risk of being negative about a positive story, I cannot recall a Canadian election in which the governing party more richly deserved to lose than did the Manitoba Conservatives last night.
Provincial politics in other provinces are a black hole to political commentators who don’t live there, so I won’t risk commentating too boldly on why Manitobans did what was clearly the right thing last night and elected an NDP government led by Wab Kinew.
When he is sworn in, Mr. Kinew will be the first First Nations provincial premier in Canadian history, and that is cause for celebration on its own merits, a sign that it just might be true, as Martin Luther King Jr. told us, that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
But it must be acknowledged that the desperate campaign by Manitoba’s so-called Progressive Conservative Party – clearly there is nothing much progressive about them at this juncture – was ugly, intentionally divisive, racist, mean-spirited, and cruel.
I’m not speaking about the hard shots at Mr. Kinew’s sometimes troubling personal history – that’s standard practice in politics, always has been, and there’s no point complaining about it. If you’re going to play, brace yourself to get slammed into the boards.
But surely the Manitoba Conservatives’ use of opposition to searching a Winnipeg landfill for the bodies of two murdered First Nations women as a wedge issue was a new low in Canadian political discourse, deeply shameful, and actually shocking in an era when we all feel as if we have been shock-proofed by the depredations of conservative electoral tactics on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border.
This is what caught the horrified attention of political observers outside Manitoba as the campaign progressed, generating enough coverage that politically alert Canadians in all provinces are surely aware of just what the province’s PCs got up to.
It should be publicly acknowledged and soundly denounced by Pierre Poilievre, the federal Conservative leader, other conservative Canadian premiers, and whoever is chosen to lead their Manitoba party next if they don’t want Canadians to think they too endorse such odious tactics.
As for the Manitoba Conservatives’ 11th hour bright idea of telling voters, in effect, that we know how you feel, you’re creeps just like us, so use your secret ballot to re-elect us and pretend to your friends and family that you did something better was actually humorous in a grim sort of way.
Any temptation to laugh at them, though, was tinged with the fear it just might work – and probably would have in a couple of other Canadian Prairie provinces.
It is to the great credit of Manitobans – who have a longer and more confident tradition of supporting progressive policies and politicians than here in Alberta, at least – that it didn’t work.
I guess, as some wag observed on the Internet, Manitobans were too embarrassed to vote Conservative, even in private.
Conservative Leader Heather Stefanson, who became Manitoba’s first woman premier when she was chosen to lead the party in 2021, told reporters last night she would step down as leader, whether or not she manages to hang onto her seat. Under the circumstances, she should.
David
Your opening sentence had me worried about your memory. Almost without even following Manitoba politics the Alberta Dani Kolonicki Dementia Follies, pre and post election, for me at least, win the “more richly deserved to lose” award hands down.
Conservative politics confuse me. I can’t grasp how any thinking so regressive and primitive actually walks upright. I do get its’ popularity as under a thin veneer of civility most humans are greedy, selfish and self centered, appealing to their better nature is usually to no avail as most do not have one.
It is not cynicism and pessimism only skepticism and realism. Cheers.
Thanks, Lungta. I stand by my assessment. I had in fact deleted a sentence that said the UCP deserved to lose too, but, what the heck, surely most readers of this blog understand that now. I think the open race baiting in Manitoba was a new low in Canadian politics, and I’m proud of Manitobans for rejecting it. DJC
I get your point as to the new blatant voicing of race baiting. Where I live racial slurs by conservatives are point two just after “elites” and pretty much part of their political conversation for as long as I can remember.
The inside voices are just breaking though the veneer is all and as you have found …. notable in a public venue.
For me it’s just conservatives as usual.
‘When he is sworn in, Mr. Kinew will be the first First Nations premier in Canadian history.’
Er, no. NWT premiers Richard Nerysoo, Nick Sibbeston, Jim Antoine, and Steve Kakfwi were all Dene. Also, all the premiers of Nunavut from 1999 to the present have been Inuit.
Thanks, Tim. I believe in Canada there is a distinction in definition made among the terms First Nations, Inuit and Metis. Nevertheless, I have changed the wording here to the first First Nations provincial premier to be perfectly clear. DJC
Yep, I think “Indigenous” applies to all three groups.
The distinction for Mr Kinew is the first provincial – not territorial — Premier in Canada’s history to be from a First Nation. Manitoba has had an Indigenous Premier before — John Norquay, in the late 19th century — but he was Métis, not First Nation.
The voters in Manitoba came to their senses and did the right thing when they voted. Too bad Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario, weren’t like that.
Recalling that in 2006, Calgary police spent weeks searching the private BFI landfill, where they found human remains.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/3rd-woman-charged-after-body-found-in-calgary-landfill-1.603063
What were the Manitoba conservatives so afraid of? That there might be many more murder victims? They’ll have plenty of time to reflect on their poor choices now, rightly so.
Hear hear! With the McCarthy debacle south of the border and the orange wave to the west and mid-east, Denial Smith and her band of goons better watch their backs. TBA will tighten the noose. I give her 18 months.Tops. Dave Parker ushered in an NDP win in the next Alberta election. Hopefully with Brooks Arcand-Paul as the new leader, while our dear Rachel gets absorbed into federal politics, maybe as federal leader.
I am elated for Manitobans. This has implications for the rest of Canada as well. However, for us intelligent and caring Albertans, it really re-ignites the deep disappointment and resentment we’ve been dealing with since our election. I’ll never fathom Notley’s strategic blunder(s) during her campaign. She had batshit lady on the ropes and still she let her slither away. Anyway, I’m happy Manitobans won’t have to suffer through the dystopia we are experiencing here.
It’s reassuring to see such ghoulish campaign tactics rejected by voters.
I was surprised at the collapse of the Tory vote even in places like Tuxedo Park home of the old aristocracy of Manitoba. Er, read Winnipeg General Strike breakers’ descendants. Heartless Heather, I assume even revolted these blue blood voters. That’s a stunning accomplishment in my books. Wab Kinew and his e-team are to be congratulated for catching the temper of mushy middle Manitoba. And that PC voting advert, creepy weird. Clifford Sifton must be spinning in his grave at the fate of the Liberal Party.
Hello Former,
Thanks for the reminder that Clifford Sifton was in Manitoba politics. I had forgotten that he was involved in the Laurier-Greenway compromise agreement on the Manitoba Schools Question. I always think of him as the Minister of the Interior and as influential in immigration, especially to western Canada.
What happened in Manitoba this fall should have also happened in Alberta this spring. Unfortunately, Alberta has a history as a bit of a one party state where people continue to vote the same way, even if the party in power messes up terribly and even if it replaces the leader who messed it badly up with one who is even worse.
On the other hand, Manitoba is a more normal healthy functioning democracy where voters seem to more easily alternate between parties. It was clear they were tired of the PC’s after their being in power for a couple of terms and the NDP focus on improving health care resonated with voters there. Yes like here, the conservatives promised to fix their own messes, but the voters there were less willing to buy that. Towards the end, the Manitoba PC’s even seemed to realize that and became increasingly desperate and negative in their campaigning. However, I sense that turned off voters even more.
I suppose the UCP in Alberta has actually only been in power for a bit over one term, so hopefully perhaps in a couple more years or so, voters here will also be more ready for change. There is truth about conservative strength in the west, but as the Manitoba election just showed, it is not complete and they are not invincible.
Manitoba’s political culture is clearly very different from Alberta’s. For instance, look at the dominance of the NDP in the North compared to the UCP’s stranglehold here — https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/manitoba-votes-2023/live-results-map. Winnipeg is the major population centre, surrounded by rural Manitoba, but the NDP there has traction in far more parts of rural & northern Manitoba than it does in rural & northern Alberta. Here in Alberta, though, the NDP can’t overcome the UCP’s head start in its domination of seats outside the two big cities.
The NDP here has to crack the code of rural and “rurban” Alberta — those small cities like Medicine Hat, Red Deer, and Grande Prairie, with urban problems but rural attitudes — if it ever hopes to win another election.
Congratulations to Wab Kinew and the NDP in Manitoba!!!
Listening to him this morning, was a breath of fresh air that alot of Canadians needed now. To hear a newly elected premier speaking of serving the province with humility and having the privilege of doing so, was enough to give me a glimmer of hope.
Especially after “8 months +” of listening to PP and his “the Polievre government “.
Abs, thanks for the link , i thought there was one out there, but couldn’t remember where. Ironic that it would be in Calgary.
sidebar: for another breath of fresh air, for anyone who hasn’t had the chance yet,
the Tyee’s Dr Steve on the Y.Hunka debacle– excerpt “the Conservatives have been giving Polievre an expensive PR makeover , but it will never work. There is no cure for rabies. ” —- good thing I had put my coffee down first LMAO….
While inwardly celebrating the NDP win in Manitoba, I couldn’t help a tinge of frustration at Alberta NDP’s failed attempt to gain power last April.
Hindsight is easier, but in comparison to the Manitoba NDP campaign, Alberta’s seemed so unfocussed, scattered, joyless.
Provincial NDP convention coming up soon. I hope people question hard what failed to happen last spring.
Andy M: Here’s what transpired in the Alberta provincial election, last May. The media flat out lied about Rachel Notley and the NDP, and refused to hold the UCP to account for doing so many major mistakes. That’s how the UCP got back into power. Fortunately, in the case of the Manitoba provincial election, the media wasn’t able to lie about the Manitoba NDP, and people were smart enough to not let the PCs have another chance, because they knew they were so bad. Conrad Black tried to promote the PCs, but failed. If the media wasn’t lying and took the UCP to task, for all their wrongdoings, the UCP would have been defeated.
Nice that Manitobia voters changed government. Never followed politics in that province Was surprised when the then Premier refused to have the land fill searched. The odd comment about the situation on the news, led me to conclude something was amiss.
Congrats to the new Premier and the NDP and all the voters in Manitobia.
Are we moving to more two-party contests both federally and provincially!
The first premier of a Canadian province who is of the First Nations peoples. No small achievement.
Of course, Patrick Brazeau had to weight in and praise this achievement, before discounting it because Kinew is from the NDP. And still other CONs were quick to bring up Kinew’s troubled history, as though in a veiled way of saying ‘typical Indian’.
No better than the election of the first Black speakers of the House of Commons, Greg Fergus, would be smeared by CONs by bringing up an ethics violation and his bad mouthing the CPC caucus. Typical Black man was the veiled repost, I suppose.