I beg to differ…

Opinion

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This article was published 26/08/2023 (742 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“I was thus surprised and dismayed by Charles Adler’s article that questions and thus diminishes Wab Kinew’s recovery from ‘his troubled personal past’ and his willingness to step up and work for the people of Manitoba.” — Peter Zahradka, letter to the editor, Winnipeg Free Press, Aug 23.

You can’t be in the opinion business without getting good chunk of negative feedback. It’s an occupational hazard.

I have no quarrel with people who disagree with any opinion offered here or any other platform I’m honoured to share. It’s one thing to disagree with an opinion. But quite another to make a false claim.

Last week at this time, I questioned Wab Kinew’s political judgment. He gave a speech at the Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg. It was very well received and I said so.

I said that if I been a political adviser for a client with Kinew’s violent past, I would make that same speech two years before an election, but not two months. Call that fair or unfair. But don’t call it a comment that questions Mr Kinew’s personal recovery and diminishes it.

I did not judge the truthfulness of Mr Kinew’s remarks. I did my job to assess their political impact. I called it risky. And that’s called telling the truth.

Let me tell you who does diminish Mr. Kinew. Every writer or speaker who tells you how Wab Kinew is to be admired because he is an Indigenous person who has overcome a troubled past. I remember not long ago when non-Indigenous media personalities would routinely praise any Indigenous person who was well spoken as people with great dignity.

Was this inadvertently diminishing every Indigenous person who wasn’t eloquent? I’m glad you asked. Beyond the over-the-top praise, the unspoken bias of low expectations is always a smear of Indigenous people.

Because media played a huge part in my personal upbringing, I cared deeply about how my words would impact on young people who were listening, especially those who were members of minority groups who had endured generations of prejudice. I would often ask myself what message was being sent to Indigenous young people when a white man on the radio was offering kudos to Indigenous person simply for speaking the Queen’s English.

I cannot be in the skin of another person regardless of their heritage. But I have no plans to remove myself from my own skin. And when a member of a minority group is being soaked with syrup because they speak like an educated human being, it makes my skin crawl.

Even though I was not living in Manitoba during the worst days of the pandemic, I would see clips of then-premier Brian Pallister.

He was flailing and failing to show strong leadership at a critical time when public service demanded the opposite. Naturally, I viewed Wab Kinew as a premier in waiting. I felt the Pallister PCs were giving the NDP a room-service victory. I felt at the time that if the next election was going to a referendum on Brian Pallister’s pandemic leadership, Wab Kinew’s win was unstoppable, unless he made a serious stumble.

I come to this visit today not to praise Wab Kinew and certainly not to diminish him. He has run a relatively mistake-free campaign so far. I have no way of knowing whether the speech he made recalling his personal past will turn out to be a mistake. And I said so last week.

I called the timing of his remarks a gamble. Is it the gamble of someone who is courageous or reckless? The voters of Manitoba will render that important decision on the third of October.

I made a decision a long time ago that I would be in violation of my egalitarian principles if I offered false compliments to educated people simply because they did not look like me.

I expect Indigenous people to speak with the same authority and clarity as any other educated person. I expect Indigenous people to treat their families and communities with respect. I have high expectations of all my fellow Manitobans. I make no make no exceptions for Indigenous people.

But if anyone is wondering whether I think Wab Kinew is an exceptionally skilled human being who has made a great personal recovery from his past trespasses, the answer is an unqualified yes.

Mr. Zahradka, I know you think I am as biased as the day is long and in the tank with the Tories. But I hope you can take yes for an answer.

Charles Adler is a longtime political commenter and podcaster.

charles@charlesadler.com