Liberal leader brushes off Axworthy’s letter backing Kinew

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This article was published 05/09/2023 (775 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s Liberal leader said he is not offended Lloyd Axworthy, an elder statesman and longtime Liberal, has written in support of NDP Leader Wab Kinew.

Axworthy, a former federal cabinet heavyweight, including as foreign affairs minister, who was president of the University of Winnipeg from 2004 to 2014, wrote a letter in support of Kinew, which appeared in a Free Press advertisement Tuesday.

Provincial Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said Tuesday he had spoken to Axworthy about it.

“He said that wasn’t an endorsement. It was a a letter of support because of the horrible way the PCs have been treating Wab Kinew, which is fully legitimate,” said the candidate for St. Boniface.

In an interview, Axworthy said he wrote the letter because Kinew has been “unfairly attacked” by the Tories, whose advertisements raise concerns about his run-ins with the law 20 years ago and question his character.

In the letter, Axworthy recalled working with Kinew at the University of Winnipeg after he was made director of Indigenous inclusion in 2011 and helped to improve opportunities for inner-city students to attend university.

That experience is a “strength” as Manitoba looks to restore the downtown of its capital city, wrote Axworthy.

He noted his political affiliation remains Liberal and that he wrote the letter in the spirit of “non-partisanship” and “making common cause for the well-being of the province in the belief that you can provide a caring, conscientious governance.”

He said the letter was not an endorsement of the New Democrats in the provincial election.

Lamont said he understands Axworthy’s motivation.

“It’s really up to Manitobans to decide how they feel about Wab Kinew,” Lamont said. “It shouldn’t be about either his past or his personality or whether he’s changed. It’s really about what political parties are going to do for people… I’m much more interested in what people’s record is – what their stand is and how they voted.”

He said he can’t control whether voters will view Axworthy’s letter as an endorsement of the NDP, and that it’s not relevant.

“Lloyd moved to Ottawa in June. He doesn’t live in Manitoba, so he’s got no skin in the game.”

Axworthy, 83, said Tuesday he moved to be closer to grandchildren but he considers Manitoba his “spiritual home” and cares about how it is governed.

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Kinew said Axworthy’s letter will likely resonate with Manitobans and he thanked the former Liberal MP and statesman for speaking on behalf of many voters.

“Dr. Axworthy is saying what a lot of Manitobans are thinking right now, which is we’ve got to work together this year in order to change government here in Manitoba,” the NDP leader said.

“So what I hope is that Dr. Axworthy’s letter will be read by Manitobans — whether you voted Liberal or NDP or Green in the past — and I hope that folks like that will hear us out, hear our plans to fix health care and make your life more affordable, and do consider voting for us on Oct. 3.”

—with files from Danielle DaSilva

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

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.