Manitoba NDP secure star election campaign manager By: Carol Sanders Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Friday, Oct. 14, 2022

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This article was published 13/10/2022 (803 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The mastermind behind the historic 2011 “orange wave” that elevated the NDP to the official opposition in Parliament, then helped Rachel Notley in 2015 end 44 years of Tory rule in Alberta, is coming to Manitoba to join the effort to unseat Heather Stefanson’s Progressive Conservative government.

On Friday, NDP Leader Wab Kinew confirmed Brian Topp will run the provincial New Democrats’ 2023 election campaign.

The strategist, whom NDP federal leader Jack Layton (1950-2011) once described as the “one of the most principled and hard-working people” he’d ever met, will attend the Manitoba party’s annual convention Saturday in Winnipeg.

“This is a winnable election, so I went out and got Jack Layton’s guy because it’s time for us to go all in,” Kinew said in an interview Friday. “We want to win, but we also want to win while we’re doing the right thing every step of the way.”

In 2011, Topp served as a senior adviser to Layton during the federal election campaign that resulted in the NDP winning a record number of seats and forming the official opposition for the first time in its history.

Topp ran the 2015 provincial election for the Alberta NDP, that skyrocketed from just four seats in the legislature to 53 — enough for a majority government. Topp then served as chief of staff to premier Notley, whose New Democrats held power in the Prairie province, for the first time, until 2019.

The 62-year-old political veteran and former national party president has experienced some losses, too.

In 2012, Topp lost his bid for the federal NDP leadership role to Tom Mulcair.

“… I went out and got Jack Layton’s guy because it’s time for us to go all in. We want to win, but we also want to win while we’re doing the right thing every step of the way.”–Manitoba NDP leader Wab Kinew

In 2013, he was brought in to the help the B.C. NDP’s provincial election campaign. It was the official opposition and had a major lead in early polls, but ended up losing to the incumbent Liberals, claiming fewer seats than in the previous election.

Kinew said Topp has the communications and organizational expertise to run a winning, values-driven campaign.

“I think he can help complement the strengths we already have to inspire Manitobans, bring people together and help people remember that Manitoba has greatness within it and that we can do great things together,” said the NDP leader.

“People are fed up with the PCs, but it’s also been a very tough few years. It’s been a divisive time,” said Kinew. “At the end of the day, this is about the people of Manitoba… We’re bringing in a very high-calibre person so we can deliver a message to Manitobans, to remind them that not only do we want a change but we want a change that works for us.

“Not just highlighting the shortcomings of the PCs, which we will continue to do, but also to share a positive message about the future of our province for the coming decades.”

Securing Topp’s services is “a big deal,” said University of Manitoba political studies Prof. Christopher Adams.

“For those who support the NDP, I think it’s very good news,” said the longtime observer of Manitoba politics.

“He’s got a good reputation in the party. He’s got leadership qualities without being the leader… He’s not an idealist, so he’ll see the practical side of politics — of what needs to be done.”

“For those who support the NDP, I think it’s very good news.”–University of Manitoba political studies Prof. Christopher Adams

Topp is a francophone from Quebec who “understands the Prairies,” said Adams.

Along with his Alberta experience, from 1993 to 2000, Topp was Saskatchewan NDP premier Roy Romanow’s deputy chief of staff.

The PCs under leader Brian Pallister, too, had a “star campaign director” in David McLaughlin, who ran the successful 2016 and 2019 elections.

McLaughlin was appointed clerk of the executive council — until Stefanson became premier in November, and replaced him with her own top bureaucrat.

Adams doubted McLaughlin would come back and help the PCs with the next election, due on or by Oct. 3, 2023.

“I’m not sure what their machinations are, but they’re looking for somebody like that, I’m sure, for their side of the story,” he said.

Kinew, who became NDP leader in 2017, said he’s been talking to Topp for several years. “It just so happened that the stars and electoral calendars aligned, that we could work together at this time,” he said.

Topp will be introduced as Manitoba NDP campaign manager at the convention Saturday. Kinew said whenever the PCs call the election, his party will be ready.

“When the writ is dropped, we will have an ad campaign and a ground game and a series of announcements that will give Manitobans the confidence that we are not only better than the PCs for the future of the province, but also have a strong plan that they can feel confidence in casting their vote to support it,” the NDP leader said.

Kinew, a former broadcast journalist, further praised Topp’s mastery of messaging, including his help with the farewell letter to Canadians written in 2011 by Layton, who died of cancer at 61.

“I get emotional thinking about it: ‘love is better than hate. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic and together we’ll change the world,’” Kinew recalled.

“Those are Jack Layton’s words. Mr. Topp helped to shape them.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

After 20 years of reporting on the growing diversity of people calling Manitoba home, Carol moved to the legislature bureau in early 2020.

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