Kinew rallies delegates as NDP convention opens

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This article was published 13/10/2022 (758 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Public versus private. The middle class over the most wealthy. A government in-waiting and a government in turmoil.

Manitoba New Democratic Leader Wab Kinew rallied delegates at the opening of the party’s first in-person convention since 2018, leaning heavily on the contrast between the official Opposition and the governing Progressive Conservatives.

“Wow, have things changed since 2018. We had an election, we had a global pandemic, we chased a premier out of office,” Kinew said to applause from 190 credentialed attendees Friday evening at the RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg.

The Fort Rouge MLA outlined the New Democrats’ work in the Manitoba Legislative Assembly over the past 12 months when the office of premier was turned over from former Tory leader Brian Pallister to Heather Stefanson and the government’s legislative agenda disrupted.

“After Mr. Pallister left the political scene, we were ready to tell Manitobans about who premier Stefanson is. She’s on the side of the billionaires. She’s not on the side of you or your family,” Kinew said.

In his speech, delivered without notes or prompts, Kinew doubled down on his criticisms of the provincial government’s plan to eliminate education property taxes through rebate cheques issued to residential, commercial and industrial property owners, including out-of-province landowners and corporations.

“What is their signature policy agenda? It’s to take money that is supposed to go schools and instead to mail that out in the form of cheques to billionaires. Let’s spend that money on feeding hungry kids in Manitoba classrooms,” Kinew said.

He also raised the spectre of privatization of public assets, including Manitoba Hydro and health care, and vowed to continue opposing the Tory agenda at the legislature.

Debates on various resolutions scheduled to happen over the weekend will inform the party’s vision and plan moving forward as it prepares for the next general election, due on or before Oct. 3, Kinew said.

With about three dozen incumbent MLAs and nominated candidates joining him on stage, Kinew said the party is ready whenever the writ is dropped. The NDP met its summer fundraising goal after a banner year in 2021 and candidates have knocked on over 40,000 doors this year, he said.

“As we prepare for the election, we’re going to do more. We’re going to do more than just continue to call out the terrible things that the PCs are doing. We’re going to put forward our vision for the coming decades here in Manitoba,” he said.

Delegates, some of whom were dressed in the party’s signature orange or sported T-shirts with pro-union slogans, passed four resolutions Friday.

A constitutional amendment to require the party’s provincial executive to be at least 50 per cent women, with the remaining seats filled by non-binary, gender non-conforming persons or men, passed unanimously. Previously, the constitution said the executive must be at least 50 per cent women with the remaining seats filled by men.

Members were also encouraged to wear buttons displaying their pronouns at the convention to increase safety for, and show solidarity with, non-binary, transgender and gender non-conforming delegates and members.

A resolution on legislating protection for gender-diverse Manitobans, should the New Democrats form government, is set to come up for debate.

Resolutions stating the NDP will call on the provincial government to recruit more nurses into the public health-care system; to establish universal nutrition and meal programs for children in school; and to develop a reconciliation strategy also passed unanimously.

Delegates are scheduled over the weekend to debate dozens of resolutions, including safe consumption sites; elimination of private, for-profit long-term care facilities; and banning the use of “scab workers.”

Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley will deliver the guest keynote speech on Saturday.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca