When politicians point fingers, voters look away By: Dan Lett Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Friday, Apr. 14, 2023 Last Modified: 7:54 PM CDT Friday, Apr. 14, 2023 Updates

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/04/2023 (876 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In most instances, a handshake is a pretty mundane event, particularly if both parties have a measure of goodwill.

In other instances, however, it appears a handshake between political combatants can be an invitation to mayhem.

Such is the lesson learned from the explosive allegation made this week by Sport, Culture and Heritage Minister Obby Khan, who accused NDP Leader Wab Kinew of physically and verbally assaulting him at a legislature event to celebrate the province’s first Turban Day.

Turban Day is the result of a private member’s bill, authored by NDP MLA Diljeet Breer, which passed last year. It was intended to celebrate Sikh culture and its importance in the Manitoba cultural mosaic.

What do we know for sure about what happened between Khan and Kinew?

In a statement after question period, Khan said that after he delivered his remarks at the event, Kinew approached and shook his hand. However, Khan said, rather than a perfunctory “thanks for showing up,” Kinew gripped his hand tightly and pulled him closer. At that point, Khan said Kinew unleashed a profanity-laced tirade.

When Kinew pushed him away, Khan said he was shoved in the stomach.

For his part, Kinew admitted his exchange with Khan was “tense” but said at no time was it physical or profane. He likened it more to “partisan bickering” than an argument. The NDP leader did accuse Khan, a former Winnipeg Blue Bomber, of uttering “an insult” back at him. Kinew apologized if anything he said or did had upset Khan.

There were no truly independent witnesses of this exchange. Unlike a somewhat similar complaint lodged last fall by NDP MP Bernadette Smith — who felt threatened when Tory MLA Blaine Pedersen rapped the back of her chair — there has been no video or photographic evidence to verify what transpired.

Until video or photographic evidence arrives, or we get witnesses to the event who are not affiliated with either political party, it’s a “he said, he said” scenario. That does not mean, however, that certain criticisms are inappropriate.

Khan would be particularly vulnerable to allegations of political opportunism if, at some point, third-party evidence or witnesses come forward to dispute his version of events. That would open the Tories to allegations that they are, in fact, attempting to trigger an ugly trope about the angry Indigenous man in an attempt to drive down NDP support.

Similar risks exist for Health Minister Audrey Gordon.

As the legislature was erupting over Khan’s allegations and Kinew’s response, the health minister shouted that she had been physically assaulted by Kinew in 2016. She left the chamber before reporters could ask her for more details.

In a statement released later, Gordon said she was handing out political pamphlets in Osborne Village, the focal point of the Fort Rouge riding where she ran against Kinew. (Gordon was elected in 2019 in Southdale.) Gordon initially said Kinew “shoved her” off a corner while she was handing out pamphlets.

Remarkably, in a subsequent statement, Gordon said she was unsure of whether she had been pushed or whether she “subconsciously backed up from shock… While I may have forgotten some of the specifics, I have not forgotten how Wab made me feel.”

The polite way of characterizing Gordon’s allegation is that it doesn’t reek of credibility.

One way or the other, however, the most pointed criticism must be levelled at Kinew.

The man, who polls suggest will be premier before the end of the year, should have known better than to get in Khan’s grill at the event. He is no doubt aware the Tories are desperate to have him live up to the aforementioned trope of the angry Indigenous man.

Kinew is also aware the Tories have at their disposal a series of incidents from Kinew’s life as a young adult in which he did react angrily, even violently.

In other words, these kinds of allegations are Kinew’s Achilles heel.

What is likely most dispiriting for New Democrats is that Kinew has, in past moments, demonstrated much more restraint in the face of conflict.

In 2021, Kinew earned praise for the way he stepped in to confront former Indigenous reconciliation minister Alan Lagimodiere for defending the role of residential schools. An honorary witness to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Kinew swiftly, but elegantly, rebuked Lagimodiere after he was sworn into cabinet and made the offensive comments.

These kinds of allegations are Kinew’s Achilles heel.

As well, Kinew demonstrated tremendous patience and deference in debate with former premier Brian Pallister, who frequently attempted to goad the NDP leader into verbal jousts.

No doubt, many New Democrats wish now that Kinew had used a similar approach with Khan.

It remains unclear whether this one incident will blow back on Kinew, or on the Tories, should evidence arise that shows Khan’s allegations were exaggerated. In many ways, it’s merely the most recent incident in a growing list of examples of how much bad behaviour adults can justify in the name of partisan politics.

One thing is patently clear: in an age of low voter turnout and low engagement with our political system, Manitobans have one less reason to vote. That makes all of us the true losers in this scenario.

dan.lett@winnipegfreepress.com