Kinew claims victory, beating out Bokhari in Fort Rouge

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/04/2016 (3457 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The NDP’s star candidate Wab Kinew has overcome controversial rap lyrics and tweets to vanquish Liberal leader Rana Bokhari in Fort Rouge.

Loud cheers erupted at NDP campaign headquarters when Kinew’s win was not only declared, but Bokhari slipped into third place behind Tory candidate Audrey Gordon.

“It is humbling,” Kinew said as he claimed victory.

“The people of Fort Rouge have invested their trust in me… I was very nervous. It was an intense campaign. It was really edge of your seat.

“I’m happy to be part of a strong opposition.”

Bokhari, hoping to win a seat and expand the Liberal party’s seat count, long ago chose to run in Fort Rouge against former NDP finance minister Jennifer Howard.

But when Howard decided not to run again in January, it appeared Bokhari’s path to the Legislature would be more a walk than a race.

Then Kinew threw his hat into electoral politics back in February, a move so significant even the national media took notice.

Kinew, who until then was set to be the host of the annual Canada Reads competition on the national broadcast of CBC Radio, and who was working as associate vice-president for indigenous relations at the University of Winnipeg, was seen as a star candidate who could dash the Liberal leader’s hopes.

But that was February. By March Kinew was under fire and apologizing for what were seen as “misogynistic and homophobic” lyrics he sang during his earlier rap career.

A few days later and Kinew was apologizing again, this time for personal tweets he posted between four and seven years ago and which many thought were homophobic and misogynistic.

But Bokhari and the Liberal campaign began stumbling and before long she was spending more time in her riding trying to get elected there.

Meanwhile, while the two high-profile candidates generated the most headlines, Gordon, who has worked for both the provincial government and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, carried the Tory banner in the riding and kept knocking on doors.

Born to Jamaican parents and coming to Manitoba when she was eight, Gordon initially volunteered for – and donated to – the NDP party but in 2011 she turned Tory.

Gordon said it was because she didn’t find the NDP to be “progressive.

“I thought they weren’t open to new ideas coming from the grassroots.”

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Sunday Passages

Sundays

Kevin Rollason’s Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba.

Sign up for Sunday Passages

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

Gordon was unsuccessful seeking the Tory nomination in her home riding of Seine River, but she became the Fort Rouge nominee in August.

“Our hearts are all in the same place,” Gordon said after her defeat.

“I’ll continue to be involved with the party.”

The Green Party’s Grant Sharp, followed by Manitoba Party’s Matthew Ostrove, rounded out the rest of the results.

Kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.

Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.