No chance premier will be wearing MAGA hat any time soon

With the U.S. waging war on Iran and the Canadian economy, Premier Wab Kinew on Friday singled out what he sees as the biggest threat to Manitobans’ livelihoods: the American president.

“Right now, Donald Trump is public enemy No. 1 when it comes to our economy, and the average person keeping their head above water,” Kinew said when asked about rising gas prices and their impact on the cost of living.

“Kids are being killed for no reason,” he said on Day 14 of the war in which an American-made missile reportedly hit a school in Iran, killing more than 100 children. The premier, who was at an unrelated event, questioned the rationale for the conflict.

“Even the Trump administration cannot explain why they’re at war in Iran right now,” Kinew said. “So stop the war.”

He promised to “keep an eye on” rising gas prices as Iran chokes off shipments from the world’s largest oil producers in response to the U.S. and Israeli attacks.

“We’re always going to be there to help you,” Kinew said.

Gas prices in Winnipeg hovered around $1.41 per litre on Friday, an increase of nearly 20 cents in the last month.

“We cut the gas tax once; we brought it down permanently afterwards,” the premier said.

The NDP suspended the 14-cent per litre provincial fuel tax in 2024, then brought it back in 2025 at a reduced rate of 12.5 cents.

“We’re going to be there to help with the cost of living,” Kinew said. “My hope is that the war stops.”

Although Manitoba’s deficit is projected at $1.6 billion, the premier painted a rosier fiscal outlook for the province ahead of the budget.

“You’re going to see the best deficit number across the country on March 24,” he said, without saying how much lower he expects it will be.

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When asked how his government will reduce the deficit, the premier was vague, crediting “a really strong economy that has a ton of great people going to work each and every day.”

Kinew has previously suggested that the province may raise revenue by squeezing the top one per cent of income earners in Manitoba.

In spite of rising energy costs and Trump’s economic war on Canada, Kinew vowed that his government will balance the books as promised by the next provincial election, which must take place by Oct. 5, 2027.

“That’s our plan,” he said.

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.