Governing PCs 'put party ahead of province this year,' Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew says
Opposition leader says no matter who leads Tories in next election, party must answer for pandemic response
Buoyed by opinion polls suggesting his party is more popular now than it has been in years, Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew says it doesn't matter who he faces from the governing Progressive Conservatives in the next election.
Premier Brian Pallister recently fuelled speculation he may resign ahead of the next election, when in a year-end interview with The Canadian Press he vowed to see the province through the COVID-19 pandemic, but wouldn't commit to finishing his term in office.
Kinew said a new leader alone would not absolve the Tory government from prioritizing "money ahead of people" in a global health crisis.
"Though Mr. Pallister probably … rubs people the wrong way when he speaks out of turn, you got to remember that the municipal affairs minister sent a letter to cities across the province telling them to lay people off, the minister of health attacked doctors, the minister of education cozied up to anti-vaxxers," Kinew said in a Dec. 21 year-end interview with CBC News.
"Even if Mr Pallister gets replaced, whoever his replacement is put party ahead of province this year. They didn't speak up for what Manitobans needed."
Kinew's fortunes appear to be rising while the premier's plummet.
WATCH | Tory MLAs didn't speak up for Manitobans, Kinew says:
Popular support for Kinew's party provincewide — 41 per cent of leaning and decided voters — exceeded the Tories' 37 per cent for the first time since the NDP was booted from power in 2016, according to a Probe Research poll conducted from Nov. 24 to Dec. 4.
Those results come as Pallister's government has been hammered over its handling of the pandemic's second wave. At one point, Manitoba had the worst per capita COVID-19 infection rates in the country, and delays for testing results and contact tracing stretched for days.
An Angus Reid Institute poll conducted in late November suggested Pallister had the lowest approval rating among premiers in Canada.
"It didn't really matter who is in the premier's chair this year on their side," Kinew said. "The real problem was their approach."
Balance budget in 'good times'
The government was wrongly fixated on saving money when it should have been focused on helping businesses and people without work, the Official Opposition leader says.
"We want the budget to be balanced in good times and good years. But in a crisis like this, the priority has to be saving lives. The priority has to be protecting health care, protecting schools, protecting small businesses."
On his regrets as a political leader, Kinew wonders if he could have pushed the government more aggressively to prepare for the surge of COVID-19 cases this fall, but "I don't know exactly how we would have done so," he said, since the government is usually reluctant to entertain outside ideas.
Improving testing and contact tracing capacity, mandating masks earlier and providing more financial aid for schools "would have made a huge world of difference," he said.
When asked how he'd rein in spending after a record-breaking deficit estimated at $2 billion, Kinew said he'd focus on growing the economy by helping businesses survive and investing in health care, infrastructure, education and child care, among other priorities. He said his plan would have been affordable, aided by federal funding.
Recessions are the time for economic stimulus, he said.
"The No. 1 concern Manitobans should have about their government next year is, is this government going to continue to put money ahead of people and in the process make the recession worse?"
Asked if Manitoba should raise taxes once the economy recovers, Kinew said, "I don't think that that's on the agenda right now."
The NDP were criticized for raising the provincial sales tax and high spending that inflated the deficit before they were defeated in the 2016 election.
By 2019, the party mainly fought the election on health care, denouncing the overhaul that closed three emergency rooms in Winnipeg. The Opposition party gained more seats, though the Tories were handily re-elected to a majority government.
"Look at our platform announcements from 2019 and ask yourself how they would have done in 2020 if we … ran on a campaign of increasing the number of ICU beds, of investing in Cadham lab, of hiring and training more nurses, of having smaller class sizes in education," he said.
But Kinew said he couldn't reverse all of the PC government's changes. It would cost too much to convert urgent-care centres back into emergency departments, he said.
Focused on the grassroots
Kinew said his party is in tune with what Manitobans want — an assertion long disputed by the Progressive Conservatives, who have portrayed the NDP as reckless spenders.
"We haven't lost touch," Kinew said. "We're still talking to the average people out there and bringing their concerns forward."
But before the next election, slated for 2023, Kinew will face a leadership vote on whether he should keep his job. Party members will cast their ballots in January.
He didn't say what percentage of support he'd consider a success, but he appears to have high hopes.
"Obviously, you want an A+ every time you get evaluated," he said.
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