NDP minister needs lesson in political civility

Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine’s decision to intercede in Winnipeg’s mayoral election may be surprising to some political observers. To others, however, it is entirely on brand.

On Tuesday, Fontaine posted a video on social media in which she expressed concern that former city councillor and Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Kevin Klein was entering the race to challenge incumbent Mayor Scott Gillingham.

The caption on the video was blunt: “I mean, really, who chooses to work for Count Dracula?”

“Kevin Klein once worked for Peter Nygard. Peter Nygard is Canada’s equivalent to (American sex offender) Jeffrey Epstein — had his own little island, did unspeakable, disgusting things to women and girls … anyways, I just thought that Winnipeggers would want to know that Kevin Klein, at one point, worked for Peter Nygard,” she says in the video.

There’s lots to unpack here, so let’s start with the fact Klein did spend two periods working for Nygard, who was a fashion mogul at the time and was later convicted of sex offences.

News reports have documented that while in Nygard’s employ, Klein twice visited the notorious Bahamian island where the businessman sexually assaulted numerous women. Klein has said it was only for business, he saw nothing illegal and he was accompanied by his wife.

It should also be said that past personal and business relationships of any candidate for public office are fair game.

The point here is that Fontaine cannot claim she was performing a public service by putting previously unknown information about Klein on the public record. Klein’s lamentable relationship with Nygard was well known fodder in political circles. In fact, Gillingham’s office raised the Nygard-Klein relationship within hours of Klein’s decision to officially enter the race.

More importantly, as a minister of the Crown and an elected member of the provincial legislative assembly, it is absolutely not Fontaine’s job to comment on a mayoral candidate — and, in fact, to be warning voters about voting for that candidate.

Fontaine, and perhaps supporters who applauded her social media takedown, will no doubt argue that Klein’s background is too egregious to ignore. And that the minister, whose portfolio involves care and support for abused women and girls, had an obligation to make the comments.

Fontaine and supporters may also note that many provincial and federal officials offer modest support to municipal candidates, either by accompanying them while canvassing or authorizing the use of their images in campaign literature.

All of that is a convenient rationale for Fontaine’s decision to ignore political decorum and tradition by attacking Klein. Not only is it not her job, it actually undermines the job she’s supposed to be doing.

It should be said that Fontaine’s acrimony for Klein is not surprising; she was in opposition while Klein briefly served in the cabinet of Tory premier Heather Stefanson. As a result, Fontaine comes by her hard feelings in a rather honest fashion.

But Fontaine is a provincially elected public official and not a front-line participant in the municipal election. She is, however, by far and away one of the most outspoken and determined ministers in Premier Wab Kinew’s government.

She is also one of the most divisive and, on occasion, indiscreet.

In June 2025, Fontaine got into trouble at a public event to celebrate Indigenous women university graduates. She was caught on a microphone complaining about being distracted by an American Sign Language interpreter, who had shared the stage with her.

“Yeah, I’m like, ‘f—-, why did I have her on the stage?’ Jesus! I’m like, ‘you need to leave,’” the minister was overheard saying in a video captured by Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.

Kinew defended Fontaine for her outburst, and she apologized to groups that represent deaf Manitobans, but the incident cemented Fontaine’s established brand as a passionate, relentlessly judgmental, and occasionally profane, politician.

Party politics is a weird team sport, one where everyone is expected to pull in the same direction but with the knowledge that one person — the leader — gets to call the shots. Not everyone — and certainly not strongly opinionated politicians with a penchant for lashing out — can function in this system.

Fontaine may be one of those square pegs in a round, party-politics-system hole.

She is a dynamic speaker, and more than a little charismatic. Journalists who have interviewed her can attest to the fact she is a tough nut to crack, and does not suffer questions or observations that she finds to be trivial or offensive.

That said, she has always appeared to care just a little bit more about her right to say whatever she wants, whenever she wants.

Political civility is not about stopping anyone from speaking out about important issues, it is about ensuring that politicians do not allow their behaviour to distract from their otherwise noble message.

Fontaine has done and said many noble things in her political career, but it may well be that Manitobans only remember her disdain for ASL interpreters and her need to out vampires.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca