Kinew, Ashton debate on how best to revive a wounded NDP during leadership forum

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This article was published 26/07/2017 (2995 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Wab Kinew portrayed himself as someone who could appeal to a new generation of Manitoba voters, while Steve Ashton emphasized the need for the NDP to build a bold, progressive vision to entice voters back to the party’s fold.

More than 250 people attended an NDP leadership forum Wednesday evening at the University of Winnipeg — the last of four to be held across the province this month.

Kinew, 35, first elected to the legislature last year, said the NDP needs to draw more young people to the party, as well as people from more cultural communities, while bringing back disaffected members who were turned off by past leadership bickering.

Manitoba voters sent the New Democrats a message in the last election, Kinew said. “The message was the next NDP government has to look different than the last NDP government. We need to return to our roots, listen to Manitobans again and bring a strong team that will build a new progressive movement in this province.”

Ashton, 61, who served in the legislature for 35 years before his defeat in Thompson in 2016, said the way to appeal to the next generation of New Democrats is for the party to put forward a progressive agenda, including free university tuition for all and an immediate increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour if the NDP wins the 2020 election.

“I think the future of this party is that we have to go back to being a movement. We have to spend a lot more time talking about policies and principles and a little less time on PR and polling,” he said.

This is Ashton’s third bid for the NDP leadership. He also ran in 2009 and 2015, losing both times to former premier Greg Selinger.

Ashton told the crowd that growing inequality and climate change are the key challenges facing Manitoba. He said he believes it is critical for the New Democratic Party to rebuild, particularly in rural Manitoba and to provide a strong opposition to the Pallister government’s austerity agenda.

Judging from the applause during the 75-minute debate, it appeared that the crowd was mainly in Kinew’s corner. Dozens in the audience wore Kinew buttons or carried signs with the younger man’s name on one side and a picture of a canoe paddle (get the pun?) on the other. There were no corresponding visual signs of support for Ashton.

Organized labour has come out strongly for Kinew. This week the Manitoba Federation of Labour, representing close to 30 unions with a membership of more than 100,000, unanimously endorsed Kinew.

“Wab is committed to working in partnership with the labour movement, and advancing priorities like creating good jobs, raising the minimum wage to $15 and protecting fair collective bargaining rights,” MFL president Kevin Rebeck said in a statement.

Wednesday night’s event was the fourth NDP leadership forum to be held this month. The other debates occurred in Brandon, Gimli and Thompson.

The NDP will select their new leader at a delegate convention at the RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg Sept. 15-16.

Kinew, an author, musician and former broadcaster and university administrator, and Ashton, a trained economist who served for close to 17 years in NDP cabinets, are vying to replace Selinger, who resigned as leader after the party’s crushing defeat in the April 19, 2016 general election. Flor Marcelino (Logan) has filled in as interim leader.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca