NDP’s Kinew gets 93% support in leadership review

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This article was published 29/01/2021 (1427 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Appearing more united than they’ve been since a cabinet revolt rocked the former Selinger government in late 2014, Manitoba New Democrats say they’re attracting more new members than ever before and amassing a war chest for the next provincial election.

Leader Wab Kinew told the party’s annual convention Saturday the NDP has paid off its 2019 election campaign debts and has already socked away $250,000 for the next election, set for 2023. Another $100,000 has been set aside to contest any byelections that arise in the meantime.

Kinew received a strong show of support at the virtual convention when 93 per cent of members voted against holding a leadership contest. The leadership vote was mandated by the party’s constitution.

Manitoba New Democrats had not held a convention since the spring of 2018 due to the expectation Premier Brian Pallister would call an early election in 2019 — which he did — and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

On Saturday, 315 party members tuned in online, while 288 participated in the leadership vote.

In an address to the party faithful, Kinew said the NDP has been building momentum since the provincial election, when it improved its seat count to 18 from only 12 in 2016, and saw 11 rookies elected.

While the party would not release its 2020 financial results before it files its official report with Elections Manitoba later this year, it appears to have had a successful fundraising campaign despite a pandemic that has depressed the provincial economy.

“Our team and our movement is connecting with people in the province on the issues that matter to them,” Kinew said, citing party policies on health, education, child care and climate change as examples.

“More Manitobans are stepping up to get involved with our movement. They’re doing it in a very meaningful way by contributing to our party even during a recession. And also, very, very importantly, we are bringing new people into this movement and we are expanding our reach.”

Without releasing numbers, Kinew said last year the NDP attracted more first-time donors than ever before, “and we had three times as many individual donors as in any other year in recent memory.”

Part of the success is due to a new focus on digital fundraising, he said.

New Democrats were buoyed by a Probe Research/Winnipeg Free Press poll in December that saw their party take the lead in public opinion for the first time since before the 2016 election. The NDP received support of 41 per cent of decided voting-age Manitobans, compared with 37 per cent for the Progressive Conservatives.

The polling occurred as public concern mounted over the Pallister government’s response to the coronavirus crisis.

“We all know that the PCs failed to prepare for the second wave of the pandemic, and as a result, people died. PCs have been cheap when it comes to health care and education. And as a result, seniors and students have suffered,” Kinew told party members.

Recent news reports of prominent Tories travelling outside the province against public health advice show “how out out touch they are” with the average Manitoba family, he said.

“We’ve been right here throughout code red. We’ve been right here throughout the pandemic, matching the commitment of the people of Manitoba,” Kinew said of his caucus.

“When you come to the Manitoba legislature, all of the energy, all of the excitement is on our side of the chamber,” he said.

In a brief speech to the convention, federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said his party has successfully fought for increased benefits to Canadians during the pandemic.

Highlights include higher Canada Emergency Response Benefit payments than the minority Liberal government had planned, an aid program for students, more generous wage supports for workers and a new federal paid sick leave program, he said.

“We are proud that so many people were better off because we were there fighting for them,” Singh said.

Meanwhile, the provincial NDP has a new party president. Lonnie Patterson of Brandon succeeds David Woodbury, who did not seek re-election. He will remain on the NDP board of directors as past-president.

For logistical reasons, the NDP split its convention into two parts this year. Saturday’s session dealt with core party business. Policy resolutions will be debated at a meeting set for Feb. 27. 

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca