Tories accuse Kinew of breaking byelection blackout rules

The opposition Progressive Conservatives filed a complaint with the Manitoba Commissioner of Elections Friday, accusing NDP Premier Wab Kinew of making a new government promise despite a byelection blackout.

“The premier is directly using his influence as the premier of Manitoba to tie an announcement in the riding of Spruce Woods to a vote for their candidate,” Tory Leader Obby Khan said.

Kinew, he said, violated byelection communication guidelines under the Election Financing Act with a video posted to social media Thursday. The premier — whose “Wabber” Instagram account identifies him as Manitoba NDP leader — stands alongside Highway 2, promising to fix a stretch of the road in Spruce Woods, where a provincial byelection is being held Tuesday and advance voting is underway.

“And now we’re announcing also, that stretch from Souris to Deleau, is gonna get fixed thanks to our candidate, Ray Berthelette, putting that on the agenda, listening to you,” Kinew says.

“So, on August 26th, when you choose the road ahead here in Spruce Woods, please lend Ray your vote.”

The byelection communication guidelines say that all announcements should be avoided, unless related to important matters of public health or safety. In the case of byelections, communications are not permitted if they “disproportionately affect the electoral district where the byelection is being held.”

Kinew was not made available to comment on the complaint Friday. The Manitoba NDP called it “a baseless attempt from the PCs to distract from the fact they did nothing for rural infrastructure for seven years.”

The statement issued by party secretary Evan Krosney said that Kinew and Berthelette “are proud of our party’s campaign commitment to fixing Highway 2 for the residents of Westman. For years, infrastructure needs of Westman have been ignored.”

At Friday’s news conference, Khan alleged that Kinew “resorted to breaking the law” after polling indicated the NDP won’t win Tuesday’s byelection.

Khan said internal party polling is “looking good” for Tory candidate Colleen Robbins in the constituency long held by the PCs.

“This announcement was specifically targeted at the voters of Spruce Woods and included this specific electoral call to action, tying the announcement to a vote for the NDP candidate.”–Tory Leader Obby Khan

The seat was vacated in March by Grant Jackson, who quit to run successfully for the federal riding of Brandon-Souris. In the run-up to the provincial byelection call, the NDP government announced $300 million in funding for projects in Spruce Woods.

Kinew has spent a significant amount of time in the constituency campaigning for Berthelette.

Khan pointed to a candidates’ debate Wednesday at Sprucewoods Community Hall in the R.M. of Cornwallis, where Berthelette promised the highway fix that Kinew referred to in his social media post on Thursday.

“He explicitly stated that he’s spending these government funds because of a campaign promise made by their candidate in Spruce Woods during the debate earlier in the week,” said Khan (Fort Whyte).

“This announcement was specifically targeted at the voters of Spruce Woods and included this specific electoral call to action, tying the announcement to a vote for the NDP candidate.”

Section 92 of the Election Financing Act includes restrictions to ensure that government resources are not used to support an election campaign.

Election guidelines

Khan’s complaint to the elections commissioner says that “multiple digital media staff” have been hired by cabinet “to create and manage the premier’s digital media.”

It says changing the name of the premier’s social media account to “Leader of the Manitoba NDP does not erase the government resources” that went into it.

“The blackout rules exist for a reason,” Khan told reporters. “This premier is not above the law. Neither is this NDP government.”

“The blackout rules exist for a reason… This premier is not above the law.”–Tory Leader Obby Khan

Whether or not Kinew broke the rules, there are no serious sanctions for such violations, “apart from some potential 24 hours of negative publicity if the governing party is found to have crossed what is definitely a blurred line between fair and unfair conduct,” said Paul Thomas, University of Manitoba political studies professor emeritus.

“Part of the problem with the law is that the premier is both head of government and leader of the party. In this instance, the response to the PC complaint will be that Premier Kinew was communicating in his capacity as party leader seeking to enhance the prospects of his party in the byelection, not as premier making a formal government announcement,” Thomas said.

“There have already been many other announcements whose content and timing was clearly intended, in part, to improve the party’s byelection prospects.

“The highway improvement announcement was clearly a partisan political announcement which was made on social media and does not appear to have involved the use of public money to gain an unfair political advantage which the law is intended to prevent.”

Complaint letter

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.