A less-than-stellar performance

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This article was published 23/09/2023 (986 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If the Manitoba provincial election campaign is a TV show contest judged by viewers, the next premier of Manitoba is Wab Kinew.

The NDP leader easily emerged the winner of the CBC TV debate on Thursday, Sept 21st. It wasn’t close. And it won’t be any closer on Election Day, Oct. 3.

There is a rule in TV that nobody gets to violate — not even a premier with 23 years of elected public service. It was best described to me by a flawed human being, who was also the most talented TV News producer I ever met. In New York City, 11 years ago where I did several guest host performances for Fox News, Roger Ailes, the architect of that big controversial brand, said “Charles, people listen to TV with their eyes. And they listen to their eyes.”

Under the TV lights on Thursday night, Wab Kinew’s eyes were twinkling with confidence. He looked warm, confident, empathetic and strong. Unfortunately for Manitoba PC supporters, Premier Stefanson was not brimming with confidence. Far too much of the camera’s time saw her looking down at her notes. You can get away with it on radio. On TV, she is convicted by a jury of her peers for forcing them to look at her hair instead her eyes. Even if she had Hollywood hair, not looking in the camera in eye is the equivalent of conceding the game to the opponent.

For those who feel I’m being harsh, you need to know that Heather Stefanson is a friend of mine.

I was at her very first nomination meeting in Tuxedo, nearly a quarter of a century ago after Gary Filmon surrendered his seat in the ashes of Gary Doer’s NDP victory in the fall of 1999.

On that night, Stefanson looked everyone in the eye. She was energetic, confident and strong. Heather Stefanson passed any TV producer’s test with flying colours. And on that night I felt the person who was running for an MLA nomination in a former premier’s seat, would some day be a premier herself, perhaps the first woman premier in Manitoba.

I have never missed voting in a provincial election, since my first landing in Manitoba, 40 summers ago. I voted PC most of the time. Sometimes I voted Liberal. But I have never voted for the Manitoba NDP.

I respect Wab Kinew’s personal rehabilitation, his capacity as an author and public communicator. I respected his performance in the TV debate. But none of the above gives me buckets of confidence that he will, like Gary Doer, walk a centrist path as a premier. I want him to shatter my skepticism. I want his government to be successful because I want Manitobans to be successful, happy and prosperous.

On a personal level, I am writing one sad column. I am paid to write the truth as I see it. The truth is these are final days for my friend Heather Stefanson as premier — final days for PC Manitoba governance in this decade. The NDP will get a minimum of eight years from the voters of Manitoba, people who are family to me, no matter who they vote for, and regardless of their biography.

There is one aspect of Wab Kinew’s personal story that tugs at this writer’s heart strings. His election as premier would carve history into Canadian stone. He would become Manitoba’s first First Nations premier. The majority of people in our province are open minded. I would say to anyone rejecting Wab Kinew because of his DNA, that they are FOE — full of excrement.

The smartest thing Wab Kinew did two days ago, belonged to the same page that he has been writing since the beginning of this campaign, when his party published a glowing personal and professional reference from Liberal elder statesman Lloyd Axworthy. In the TV debate, in his closing remarks, Kinew, looked Liberal voters in the eye and asked them to trust him with their votes.

I believe provincial Liberal voters will deliver the NDP a significant majority of seats in the Manitoba legislature, where Wab Kinew will be in the same chair my personal friend has been privileged with, for the last two years.

Heather Stefanson, thank you for your friendship and public service. Mr. Kinew, I hope you will earn the precious public trust you will very likely be given by my Manitoba family. I sincerely hope that you will be a strong, inspiring, and compassionate premier. Good luck, Mr. Kinew.

Charles Adler is a longtime political commenter and podcaster. charles@charlesadler.com