Tories file byelection complaint against Kinew in court

Manitoba’s Progressive Conservatives claim an infrastructure promise made by Premier Wab Kinew during the Spruce Woods byelection violated the election finance law — and they want a judge to rule on it.

PC Leader Obby Khan filed a notice of application Friday in the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench that claims Kinew and the New Democratic Party violated a section of the Election Financing Act that bars the government from advertising its activities or programs during elections.

At issue is a social media post on Aug. 21 in which Kinew vows to repair a section of Highway 2, in the Spruce Woods constituency in western Manitoba.

“The governing party is prohibited from making new funding promises during the election period because it tilts the playing field in the government’s favour,” Khan told reporters outside the Law Courts Building on Friday.

“We’ve already filed a complaint with the commissioner of elections, but this moral and ethic breach was so gross, so egregious, we needed to file the action in (court) as well.”

Khan accused Kinew and his party of thinking they’re “above the law.”

“They need to hear from Court of King’s Bench that they were wrong, they broke the law,” said Khan. “The premier needs to admit it and apologize (for) it to all Manitobans.”

The legislation prohibits the government and its Crown agencies from advertising or publishing information about its programs or activities during a campaign, with a few exceptions.

Khan filed his complaint with the elections commissioner in August; the commissioner, Bill Bowles, has not issued a ruling yet.

On Friday, an NDP official called the Tory’s court complaint a “baseless” attempt to distract from the PC’s record on rural infrastructure.

After the PCs complained to the commissioner, the NDP said Kinew was acting as party leader, not the premier, and used the party’s resources to make the post.

The Tory application asks a judge to rule that the NDP and Kinew violated the law, and seeks to have its court costs paid.

The application indicates Khan will file an affidavit in support of the claim, while his lawyers will file a legal brief. The filings are expected shortly, said Khan.

University of Manitoba political studies professor emeritus Paul Thomas said he thinks it’s unlikely the Tory notice of application will be heard in court.

“Normally, judges don’t like to get involved with what the courts label ‘political questions,’ so normally there has to be a pretty clear violation of a law for them to accept a case,” said Thomas.

“The matter is already before the election commissioner, so that’s the normal route for settling these disputes, so that may be another reason the court may decline to hear it at this time.”

There have been a number of instances — under both NDP and Tory governments — where the governing party and its leader have been accused of using government resources to gain an unfair advantage.

“The standard response by the party accused of using government resources and gaining an unfair advantage is, ‘Well, I was speaking as party leader, and in any election contest, the leader is entitled to make promises, and there was no government resources involved in the promises I made,’” said Thomas.

“That was Kinew’s defence back in August when this complaint was originally raised.”

Thomas said commissioner Bowles has tended toward light punishments in his rulings on the issue.

“The deterrent that the commissioner represents is mainly damage to the leader’s reputation and to the image of the party, if they seem to be playing fast and loose with the rules, it’s not that we’re going to overturn election outcomes or have a do-over of an election,” said Thomas.

In Spruce Woods, Tory candidate Colleen Robbins, a longtime PC volunteer and former nurse, narrowly beat NDP challenger Ray Berthelette in the Aug. 26 vote.

The byelection, in a mostly rural constituency considered a Tory stronghold, was sparked after PC MLA Grant Jackson resigned to successfully run for the federal Conservatives in Brandon-Souris in the April federal election.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca