Minor ethics breaches not enough to hurt Kinew’s soaring popularity

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This article was published 25/03/2025 (239 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When your worst transgression is failing to disclose that you accepted charter flights to two Grey Cup games, it’s easy to see why Premier Wab Kinew and his NDP government continue to grow in popularity.

A new Free Press-Probe Research poll shows Manitoba’s NDP is more popular in Winnipeg than at any time since winning the provincial election in October 2023. The party has the support of 63 per cent of Winnipeggers, up 12 percentage point from a year and a half ago.

Meanwhile, the Progressive Conservative party’s popularity has dropped to 25 per cent in the capital city, down from 32 per cent in the election. Considering provincial elections in Manitoba are won and lost in Winnipeg, that’s a massive gap between the two parties.

It’s not surprising that the NDP’s popularity has risen in recent months. Kinew, like many other Canadian politicians, have benefited from the attacks on Canada by U.S. President Donald Trump, who continues to threaten to impose crushing tariffs on his northern neighbour and still muses about making Canada a 51st state.

Like most first ministers across the country, Kinew has fought back against the threats and has been visible in standing up for Manitoba and Canada (including through social media platforms such as TikTok).

The patriotic fervour that has been ignited across Canada in the wake of Trump’s attacks has benefited incumbent governments, including the Liberals at the federal level.

The NDP government in Manitoba, which has taken several steps to fight back against Trump, has been no exception.

That’s not the only reason for the NDP’s growing popularity over the past 17 months. The party has enjoyed an extended honeymoon since the election in large part through a series of populist policies (like cutting the gas tax and freezing Manitoba Hydro rates) while also making preliminary progress on health care by hiring more front-line staff.

The province’s focus on crime, including increased funding for policing, in a city with one of the highest violent crime rates in Canada has probably helped boost NDP fortunes.

But what about Kinew’s ethical breaches? The premier was caught accepting charter flights to two Grey Cup games while failing to disclose them to the province’s ethics commissioner.

Under the province’s ethics rules, MLAs are prohibited from accepting flights on non-commercial chartered or private aircraft (unless it’s a Crown plane used for government business) unless they first obtain approval from Manitoba’s ethics commissioner, or disclose the trip to the commissioner within 30 days. Kinew did neither, until he was caught.

The CBC reported Kinew took two flights chartered by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to Grey Cup games in Hamilton in 2023 and Vancouver in 2024 without approval from the commissioner and without disclosing them within 30 days. Kinew says he paid for his own game tickets. He told the CBC he reimbursed the Bombers for the 2023 flight.

Whatever the case, he didn’t follow the rules.

Those rules are there for a reason. Accepting a charter flight from the Bombers could be seen as the football club currying favour with the premier. Considering the team has relied on government in the past to help fund the stadium they play in, that could be seen as a conflict of interest.

It’s not the first time Kinew has been under the microscope for accepting a free flight on a trip that was not entirely for official government business. The premier was criticized by the Opposition Tories recently for expensing a trip to British Columbia to meet with that province’s premier while also campaigning for the NDP.

“For this premier, ethics continue to be an afterthought,” said interim PC leader Wayne Ewasko. “The premier could’ve consulted with the ethics commissioner.”

And he should have. But in the grand scheme of things, these are pretty minor infractions that don’t seem to be putting a dent in the premier’s popularity. Granted, the latest poll was taken before the story broke about the Bombers’ flights. But it was taken after the story about the B.C. flight that included campaigning for the NDP.

That’s not to say these ethic breaches are not important. They are. Relatively minor breaches can lead to more serious ones. It’s important that rules are in place to govern how elected officials conduct themselves, what responsibilities they have to disclose personal assets and when to report any perks they receive. These are important hallmarks of an open and transparent democracy.

Kinew’s recent ethical breaches, perceived or otherwise — no matter how minor — will likely cause the premier to be more careful in the future when it comes to accepting benefits of any kind. But it doesn’t seem to be hurting him in the polls.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca