Byelection will test Tories’ staying power

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This article was published 12/12/2022 (1247 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s just one of Manitoba’s 57 provincial ridings, but Premier Heather Stefanson’s government faces a reckoning in the Kirkfield Park byelection Tuesday.

Voters will head to the polls to select a new MLA following a contentious campaign in which candidates had their character attacked, appealed for strategic voting and spent frigid nights door-knocking.

The Tories have the most at stake, University of Manitoba political studies professor emeritus Paul Thomas said, because a loss would spur the party’s MLAs to retire early and dampen candidate and donor enthusiasm.

“With less than a year to go until the general election and trailing badly in the polls, they need to demonstrate their situation is not hopeless,” Thomas said. “The byelection outcome cannot be taken as a clear prediction of what will happen in October 2023. However, a loss would reinforce the image of the PCs as a party headed to defeat.”

Stefanson waited until the last possible day to call the byelection under law, Dec. 13, amid sinking popularity, a municipal election, and favourable polling for the NDP.

Kirkfield Park has been without an MLA since June, when former PC cabinet minister Scott Fielding resigned to take a consulting job in the private sector.

Four candidates are running in the west Winnipeg constituency: former city councillor Kevin Klein (PC), CancerCare Manitoba nurse Rhonda Nichol (Liberal), juvenile corrections officer Logan Oxenham (New Democrat), and semi-retired information technology professional Dennis Bayomi (Green Party).

The four-week race has focused heavily on the health crisis, with candidates putting Grace Hospital, which employs about 2,000 people, at the centre of their campaigns.

Nichol, who spent 29 years at Grace before moving to CancerCare, said she was motivated to enter politics by her own experience in health care.

“It’s been very difficult watching what’s been going on,” the 54-year-old grandmother of three said.

The government’s health reforms over the past six years have led to a challenging work environment, and hurt Manitobans, Nichol said.

She argued the system has steadily declined for a decade owing to poor planning and human resource management by governments, including the former NDP administration (1999-2016).

“If our government would have done more to really plan and have enough workers in the system, that pandemic may have been a little easier to cope with, because now we’re in a situation where nurses, doctors, health-care aides, support staff, they’ve worked their butts off for the past two years. They’ve worked short all through that,” she said.

“I felt, honestly, there was no other option than get involved in the political side to bring more accountability,” she said. “Everything in my body just said this is the time for action.”

The Liberals are hoping to win a fourth seat to earn official party status ahead of the election, scheduled for Oct. 3, 2023.

The party proposed a mini, five-point health-care transformation platform focused on prevention and collaboration; psychotherapy regulation; increased support for health-care workers; more training opportunities; and enhanced regional accountability.

“We need a third party right now to represent the people and bring more of a voice back to the people of the community,” said Nichol, who lives near Stonewall.

Historically, the Tories have represented Kirkfield Park, which has a median household income of $75,000 and median age of 47, Elections Manitoba has reported. However, New Democrat Sharon Blady held the seat for nine years from 2007 to 2016.

The NDP has urged voters to back their candidate in protest against the Tories’ health reforms.

“Vote strategically. Really consider your options,” said Oxenham.

The 45-year-old Kirkfield Park resident said it’s a fair request of his neighbours.

“The Liberals are not in a position to win,” the married father of one argued.

Voters are tired of PC MLAs using Kirkfield Park as a “stepping stone” and believe the NDP is the only viable option if they want change, Oxenham said. A consolidated progressive vote — like the one that sent Blady to Broadway in 2007 — will deliver a message to the Tories, he said.

“Back then, folks understood just how important it was to vote strategically and to come together and defeat the conservatives.”

Oxenham said he chose to run for public office after receiving “push back” against advocacy for transgender patients in the health system and feeling the pinch of austerity at work.

As an openly transgender law enforcement officer, Oxenham has worked with justice officials on transgender inclusion and issues throughout a 12-year career at the Manitoba Youth Centre.

Affordability and health care are top concerns for voters, the candidate said.

Since hitting the campaign trail in September, Oxenham and NDP Leader Wab Kinew have hosted multiple events and rallies near the Grace Hospital. The party has pledged to extend hours at the nearby ACCESS health clinic.

“Health care is the No. 1 priority for folks in this community, so as their representative, I’d like to hold the current government accountable for their cuts and poor choices,” Oxenham said.

The target of both the NDP and Liberals is Klein.

Both parties alleged the former councillor hasn’t been forthcoming about the extent of his employment, years ago, with businessman Peter Nygard, who has been charged with sexually abusing several women in Canada and the U.S.

Klein, who represented the Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood ward before unsuccessfully running for Winnipeg mayor this fall, refused to discuss the mudslinging, saying he prefers to talk about issues that matter to voters, including public safety, health and affordability.

“I believe that I’m elected to represent the people and, in this case, if I’m fortunate enough to be MLA, I’m elected by the residents of Kirkfield Park,” the 57-year-old grandfather and former business executive said. “I work for them first and foremost. They’re the ones that pay my salary.”

The West End resident has run an independent, hyper-local campaign featuring proposals that PC party central hasn’t endorsed.

Klein has promised to advocate for more community care paramedics in Winnipeg and wants to strip lawmakers of parliamentary privilege, which protects MLAs from liability for remarks they make in the legislative chamber.

His public communications have singled out the premier; a recent social media post stated, “I will fight for you, if it is with Wab Kinew or even Heather Stefanson.” The premier has not taken a major public role in the campaign.

However, Klein insisted his relationship with his party and its leader is in good standing, saying both are open to listening to his ideas and support members who speak up for constituents.

“If the leader is doing something that my residents tell me is wrong, I’m going to sit down with her and I’m going to have that conversation. I’m going to ask why,” Klein said.

He pointed to his record as city councillor as proof of his commitment to Kirkfield Park.

“I’m proud of the things that I’ve actually accomplished and done, with the people of Kirkfield Park, and I look forward to doing more with them because this is my community as much as it is theirs,” he said.

The Green Party is putting up Dennis Bayomi, a semi-retired IT co-ordinator, data analyst and volunteer youth basketball coach.

The 63-year-old Kirkfield Park resident is running for the second time, after earning 896 votes in the 2019 election.

“We’re running to win,” Bayomi said. “It could well be a four-person race… quite truly I’m ready to serve the neighbours and friends who live in this riding.

“I know it like the back of my hand.”

He lamented the campaign’s lack of debate on issues such as poverty, democratic reform and the climate emergency. Bayomi has proposed a moratorium on winter elections to encourage participation, lowering the voting age to 16, and a ban on lawn signs.

He expects voter turnout Tuesday will be a record low given the timing, appeals for strategic voting, and mudslinging throughout the campaign.

“A lot of people aren’t going to be voting either because it’s just dastardly cold, or they figure they’ve heard it all before,” he said. “People are just getting really impatient, really worn out, and really disengaged.”

In 2019, voter participation in Kirkfield Park was 61 per cent.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca