Inner city safe harbour for Selinger

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This article was published 26/03/2016 (3487 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While some NDP candidates see Greg Selinger’s lack of personal popularity as a liability, don’t count Kevin Chief among them.

The Point Douglas MLA says in his constituency — one of the poorest in the province — having the sitting premier show up at an event is an asset.

“You need to understand that Greg has a deep connection personally, professionally and politically in our neighbourhood, and he’s very well-known and quite well thought of,” Chief said this week.

It’s doubtful many of Chief’s colleagues would be as positive about a leader with a 19 per cent approval rating. Several NDP candidates have said privately they get an earful about Selinger as they seek support at voters’ doorsteps.

At the end of February, St. Norbert MLA Dave Gaudreau made his feelings plain at an NDP caucus meeting, where he infamously told Selinger to his face: “People hate you.”

But in less-affluent Point Douglas that’s not the case, said Chief, who recalled an event the premier attended this month.

The meeting was organized by AYO (Aboriginal Youth Opportunities) Politix, an organization that encourages youth to become politically active. More than 40 young people attended at Neechi Commons on Main Street.

“We answered questions around poverty, around Child and Family Services, around things that people really care about in our neighbourhood,” Chief said. “Those young people in our neighbourhood were quite proud to have a sitting premier sitting there answering these questions.”

While polls indicate voters in the suburbs are poised to revolt against the NDP under Selinger, Chief said things are different in the inner city. It’s known the NDP leader once worked as a social worker in the area, that he has spent a lot of time “both personally and professionally” in the community, and supported many organizations and causes there, Chief said.

Selinger was also instrumental in closing down the Merchants Hotel on Selkirk Avenue — an action that has led to a reduction of crime in the neighbourhood.

Compared to Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister and Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari, Selinger has had fewer party candidates at his side as he’s made announcements thus far during the election campaign. Generally, only his most stalwart leadership-contest allies (MLAs such as James Allum, Kerri Irvin-Ross and Sharon Blady) have come along to show support.

At one Selinger event this week announcing details of $10 billion in proposed infrastructure spending at Red River College’s Notre Dame Avenue campus, the NDP leader stood alone, save for a couple of burly construction workers his staff managed to round up from a nearby site.

Except for attending last Saturday’s St. Johns nomination meeting and accompanying the premier as he led the walk to Government House for the dropping of the writ March 16, Chief has been absent — some observers would say conspicuously so — from the premier’s side during the campaign. He did not accompany Selinger during two events in Fort Rouge where the party leader stood by Wab Kinew when the latter first announced his candidacy and later apologized for past sexist and homophobic song lyrics and social-media comments.

Some would say Chief, who is suspected of having leadership ambitions, does not want to associate himself with the unpopular leader. But the Point Douglas MLA, first elected in 2011 by 2,700 votes over his nearest rival, said his absences have had more to do with personal circumstances and constituency demands.

Chief is a father of two boys (ages two and four) and his wife is undergoing a difficult pregnancy. Their third child is due on the week of the election, April 19. During the recent legislative sitting, he was away from work some days to look after his family. “I’m trying to balance some of the responsibilities of being home and a tough pregnancy.”

Asked if he has a problem with Kinew’s controversial social-media posts, Chief said the Fort Rouge candidate has already addressed the matter in public.

“Those (postings) definitely don’t represent who I am, don’t represent the values of my neighbourhood and my family, and Wab has spoken to that already,” he said.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca