MLA booted from NDP has starring role on first day of fall legislature sitting By: Carol Sanders Posted: 11:25 AM CDT Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024 Last Modified: 6:42 PM CDT Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024 Updates

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A fire alarm and fireworks erupted in the house on the first day of the fall sitting of the Manitoba legislature.

When members returned to the chamber 15 minutes after the false alarm, Fort Garry MLA Mark Wasyliw, who was ousted from the NDP caucus earlier this month, went hard at the premier during question period, demanding to know why it took so long for the province to reinstate the homeless benefit paused Aug. 2.

The criminal defence lawyer — who expected his participation in the house would be “severely curtailed” after he was turfed by the NDP to sit as an independent — was presented with an opening to question Premier Wab Kinew when the opposition Progressive Conservatives gave up two questions of their own.

“I ask this premier, why didn’t he reverse the cut from August, and why did he wait two months until there was a media backlash before he reversed the cut?” asked Wasyliw, who sat beside veteran Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen on the PC back bench.

Kinew deferred to Housing Minister Bernadette Smith, who responded to Wasyliw’s questions Wednesday. She said she asked for the Aug. 2 pause on processing any new applications for the Canada Manitoba Housing Benefit — a rent top-up program that helps homeless people afford a place of their own — because it was oversubscribed and ran out of money.

After the story broke Sept. 11, Smith said she apologized to housing advocates for not telling them sooner.

Kinew told reporters Sept. 17 that pausing the homelessness benefit was news to him, too.

“I learned about this cut through the media,” Kinew said at the time. “Some days you get some surprises on your way into work. Would I have liked a better news story about the great work we’re doing on homelessness? Yes.”

The government announced Sept. 26 that it was reinstating the rent top-up program.

It took a “media backlash” for the Kinew government to reverse the cut, said Wasyliw who, after getting the boot from caucus, accused the premier of bullying and leading a toxic work environment.

Wasyliw, who didn’t give up his practice to sit as a full-time MLA after he was overlooked for a cabinet post, asked the premier to commit to providing the top-up benefit to every qualifying Manitoban who needs it.

Smith defended the NDP government’s actions and its record of expanding social housing and getting more subscribed to the program.

“We doubled the amount of people that were in receipt of this benefit,” she said.

The fallout from Wasyliw’s ouster set the tone for the first day of the fall sitting, starting with an apology from Kinew to Wasyliw’s associate, lawyer Gerri Wiebe, who represents convicted sex offender Peter Nygard.

The NDP caucus initially said it was kicking Wasyliw out of caucus because of his association with the lawyer.

It ended with MLAs debating a PC motion, seconded by Wasyliw, calling for the ethics commissioner to investigate allegations of a toxic workplace.

Meanwhile, the NDP government said it plans to introduce legislation this month to further control the sales of machetes.

House leader Nahanni Fontaine made the announcement in a news release Wednesday, as the fall sitting of the legislative assembly began.

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe alluded to a possible crackdown on machetes in the summer after Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation Chief Angela Levasseur renewed a call to regulate sales of the weapon after a woman in the community was attacked with a machete in June, followed by another weeks later in which a man was severely injured.

“Our government is very concerned about the appalling use of machetes to commit violent crimes,” Wiebe said in a statement to the Free Press on Aug. 8.

“We look forward to the coming legislative session and the opportunity to share more about the specific measures we will take to ensure these weapons don’t fall into the wrong hands.”

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In Winnipeg, a 15-year-old boy was attacked by two suspects wielding one or more machetes on Selkirk Avenue on Aug. 7. The victim suffered amputated fingers, two broken arms, skull fractures and serious cuts to his arms, back and face. The boy needed more than 20 hours of emergency surgery.

Two teen boys are charged in the incident, and in an attack on an 80-year-old man on Pritchard Avenue on Aug. 4. Machetes and an axe were used in that attack, which also involved a 12-year-old female suspect.

Fontaine, who was not made available to reporters Wednesday, said legislation to “restore autonomy to municipalities” will also be put before the assembly this month.

Kinew said in late August his government was planning to let municipalities decide whether they will opt in or out of the controversial Plan 20-50. If approved, the plan would guide collaboration among Winnipeg and 17 surrounding municipalities on everything from land use to recreation over the next 30 years.

“Our government is ready to get back to work on a strong and free Manitoba where everyone has a path to success,” Fontaine said in the release. “Returning to session will allow us to continue to advance the priorities that matter to Manitobans.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
With files from Maggie Macintosh

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.

Every piece of reporting Carol 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.