Axworthy stands by flattering comments about Kinew

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This article was published 07/04/2016 (3537 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NDP candidate Wab Kinew is using a flattering comment from one of Manitoba’s best known Liberals in his campaign literature in Fort Rouge.

And he has Lloyd Axworthy’s permission to do it.

A campaign card being distributed in the constituency features kind words for Kinew from the former foreign affairs minister, Manitoba MLA and University of Winnipeg president.

Axworthy said Thursday he is not formally endorsing any candidate in Fort Rouge — where Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari is running — but he stands behind the quotation gleaned from a Canadian Press article last month in which he predicted Kinew “will be one of the important players in the country.”

The quote was published after Kinew came under criticism for past homophobic and misogynistic tweets and hip hop lyrics, but before the writ was dropped for the provincial election.

Kinew is currently on leave from his job as associate vice-president of indigenous affairs at the U of W.

“I’ve taken the basic position, aside from working for Jon Gerrard in River Heights, I’m not endorsing any particular candidate,” Axworthy said in an interview. “But I certainly stand by the remarks. Wab did some incredible work for us at the university so that quote was made based on that experience. It was done before the election was called.”

Axworthy said NDP campaign manager Jeremy Read, with whom he also worked at U of W, asked his permission to use the remarks in Kinew’s campaign. The former federal cabinet minister and one-time Fort Rouge MLA acquiesced.

“It’s all part of the public sphere,” Axworthy said of the quote.

The Liberal stalwart said Kinew has undergone “quite a major change (and) transformation in the way he look(s) at things” since he wrote his controversial tweets and song lyrics. “That was then and he has a different point of view now and works on what he has become, not what he was.”

Kinew’s two main challengers in Fort Rouge are Bokhari and Progressive Conservative Audrey Gordon. The seat had been held by NDPer Jennifer Howard, who did not seek re-election.

Asked straight out if he favours Kinew in Fort Rouge, Axworthy evaded the question, noting he does not live in the constituency.

“I’ve had several requests for endorsements and stuff, and I said, ‘Look I’m a private citizen now.’ I make the choices of what I want to do and I certainly continue to have a high regard for Wab. But when it comes to the election that’s up to the people of Fort Rouge.”

In addition to working on Gerrard’s re-election in River Heights, where he lives, Axworthy also co-chaired Jim Carr’s successful bid for a seat in the House of Commons last fall.

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Axworthy said at this stage in his career, he has that “wonderful freedom” to choose where he wishes to volunteer “and make the choices that I want to make.”

He refused to comment on the state of the Liberal campaign, which has taken quite a hit in the media in recent days.

“I do have some views, obviously, but I don’t really want to talk about them publicly. Being a private citizen kind of gives me that privilege, if you like,” he said.

The Manitoba Liberals said Thursday they had no comment on the Kinew campaign pamphlet.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca