NDP minister delivered labour peace, boosted workplace safety

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This article was published 02/02/2024 (839 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A political organizer turned politician, who helped the NDP win campaigns and secured labour-management peace and safer workplaces, was remembered Friday by two Manitoba premiers as a mentor and a champion.

Becky Barrett, 81, died Jan. 26 at Riverview Health Centre in Winnipeg. The New Democrat served as an MLA from 1990 to 2003, first in opposition and then as a minister in Gary Doer’s cabinet from 1999 to 2003.

“She was a terrific organizer, a terrific person and left a terrific legacy,” Doer said.

Premier Wab Kinew said he was lucky to have her as mentor. She taught him “some important political and life lessons.”

“She took some time to help me understand the lay of the land in Manitoba politics — not only from the policy side but also from the perspective that all politics is local,” Kinew said Friday.

“She was a passionate believer in the ground game, the organizing, the constituency-level outreach: talking to voters, knocking on doors, organizing at the local level,” the premier said. “It’s been hugely influential in my thinking and certainly the thinking of our team.”

Doer, who knew Barrett before she was elected to office, said she helped many New Democrats try to win a seat.

“She was very involved in running all the critical campaigns,” he said. “Any person who is in a tight election situation would be very happy to get Becky Barrett running their campaign. She was so thorough, so well organized and had a great personality.”

Barrett was first elected in 1990 in the now-defunct Wellington constituency in central Winnipeg.

Doer, who was premier from 1999 to 2009, said he’s proud that he appointed her to cabinet.

“She was a really good labour minister,” he recalled.

“The miners in the north probably don’t know Becky Barrett, the ones starting today, but she made a difference.”

After the explosion at Flin Flon’s Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Co. in 2000, which killed Steve Ewing and injured 13 others, Barrett strengthened workplace health and safety rules and created six new safety officer positions — including one to focus on safety engineering in mining and smelting operations.

In 2002, the Workplace Safety and Health Act was rewritten to include severe penalties for employers who ignore rules to make workplaces safe. In 2008, the province reported the rate of lost-time injuries fell 25 per cent from 2000 to 2007.

In 2000, Barrett introduced legislation that allowed unions and employers to access an alternative dispute settlement process for strikes or lockouts that last more than 60 days.

“She made a difference for more labour-management peace, with fewer days lost to strike and lockout,” said Doer.

“Those are a couple of pretty good legacy items, at the end of the day,” said the former premier and Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. from 2009 to 2016.

“She will be dearly missed,” said Kinew.

As a woman in a male-dominated political sphere, Barrett left a “significant” mark, said Shannon Sampert, a lecturer at RRC Polytech and instructor at the University of Manitoba.

When Barrett was first elected in 1990, she was one of 11 women in the Manitoba legislature.

Within a decade, in 1999, she was one of five women appointed to Doer’s cabinet, which set a record, Sampert said.

“She was given the job as minister of labour, a hefty cabinet position, with remarkable responsibility.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca