Gaza thrust into Tuxedo byelection

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This article was published 05/06/2024 (507 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Progressive Conservative candidate vying for a key Winnipeg constituency is making the war in Gaza the centre of his campaign, alleging some NDP MLAs support “extremism.”

“The reality is that certain members of the NDP have published, written and said things that are horribly hateful,” Lawrence Pinsky said Tuesday, two weeks before the June 18 Tuxedo byelection.

Tuxedo residents have been receiving automated voice messages from Pinsky alleging there is “undeniable evidence” some NDP MLAs and ministers support “extremism.”

In an interview, Pinsky pointed to social media posts from Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine and Fort Richmond MLA Jennifer Chen as evidence.

Pinsky said Fontaine “wrongfully talks about Israeli genocide (and) really has said nothing supportive of the victims of Hamas terror,” and “Jennifer Chen has called Israel out as committing a war crime.”

In March, Fontaine reposted a United Nations Relief and Works Agency message that said “Famine is imminent. People in Gaza are starving.” Fontaine wrote: “We are now witnessing a genocide through intentional starvation. Starvation is being used as a weapon of war.”

On Oct. 17, Chen wrote that “the heartbreaking loss of life we’ve seen in Gaza is a war crime.”

Pinsky is running to replace former PC premier Heather Stefanson who resigned her seat last month. Carla Compton, a nurse, is running for the NDP. Jamie Pfau, the president of the Manitoba Foster Parents’ Association is running for the Liberals and Janine Gibson is the Green party candidate.

It’s expected to be a tight race after the NDP candidate nearly won, finishing 268 votes behind Stefanson in the Oct. 3 election that propelled the NDP to power. The PCs are fighting to hang on to Tuxedo and Pinsky says the NDP is driving Manitobans apart.

“Their job should be to unite Manitobans, not divide Manitobans,” said the Jewish family lawyer, who’s spoken out against the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, its right to defend itself, and about rising anti-Semitism.

When asked to respond to Pinsky’s accusation NDP MLAs support “extremism,” Premier Wab Kinew’s press secretary pointed to Kinew’s March 11 statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza to save innocent civilian lives, for Hamas to be “destroyed,” and for Manitobans to get along.

“I believe Israel is justified in targeting Hamas given Hamas’s intention to kill Jewish people based solely on their Jewish identity, and the violence Hamas has shown in carrying out that intention,” the premier wrote. “We are one province and we don’t have to agree on everything in order for us to live together, to do good things together, and to respect one another.”

An NDP spokesman accused the Tories of desperate measures.

“It’s disappointing to see the PCs are using the same desperate division and fear tactics that Heather Stefanson used in the last campaign,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “It’s time they learned their lesson.

“Tuxedo families can vote to send a nurse to sit at the table with Wab Kinew and make life better for people.”

There’s no sign of life getting better after eight months of an NDP government, Pinsky said.

“People in Tuxedo have to ask themselves ‘where’s the economic future for our kids and grandkids?” he said, noting the province has a $2-billion deficit.

Residents of the affluent constituency (median income $92,000) feel less safe now, Pinsky said. “People feel they can’t walk downtown or in Osborne Village or parts of Tuxedo.” The government needs to provide “wraparound” services to help those in need, the candidate said, acknowledging the errors of previous PC and current NDP governments.

Probe Research doesn’t have constituency-specific polling to show how Tuxedo voters are feeling.

Probe principal Curtis Brown figures the issues that matter in Tuxedo are those that matter to most Winnipeg voters: public safety, affordability, the state of the roads and health care.

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“The Israel/Palestine conflict may be a bit more of an issue because you have a greater proportion of Jewish voters and the Asper (Jewish Community Campus) is in the constituency,” he said. “However, I don’t see it playing out in a big way — it’s more of a federal than a provincial issue.”

Brown said the big question is who is more motivated.

“The NDP is eager to flip this seat and is trying to do so, but I also think habitual PC voters will be motivated to show up just because there’s been a lot of talk about the NDP coming close in the general election and then trying to take the seat now,” he said.

“And for all the talk of what the NDP are doing to campaign there, this is also the first time in a long time that the PC candidate has really campaigned on the ground there — and that could make a difference. The PCs know the consequences of losing a seat like Tuxedo are pretty dire if they hope to be competitive in Winnipeg in the next election.”

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.