Former MLAs seek to depolarize Manitoba’s politics

BRANDON — A group of former Manitoba MLAs is hoping to restore civility and decrease partisanship in politics.

The Association of Former Manitoba MLAs’ Democracy Initiative plans to meet over the next few months with stakeholders across the province — including universities, non-profits, cultural organizations, labour groups and politicians — to hear ideas about how politics can be less polarizing.

“I think we just all need to work together to be better at what we do and how we behave,” said former Tory Brandon East MLA Len Isleifson, who is part of the initiative.

Members of the Manitoba legislature have come under fire in recent months for resorting to name-calling and other breaches of decorum.

Just last week, the Premier was called a “Pinnochio,” the Opposition leader was accused of being a bigot, and the male members of the Tory caucus were called misogynists.

Even Speaker Tom Lindsey got into the act, when he said one member was “not that clever.”

“It’s too much of a battle — they’ve taken away the debating of issues, and (a) lot of it is really personal attacks on all sides of the house,” Isleifson said.

Isleifson, who served as PC MLA from 2016 until 2023, said one of the reasons people don’t run for office is because of the attacks they face, both from other politicians and community members.

“There’s a lot of smart people out there that could do a world of good,” he said.

Isleifson, who said he will run for mayor of Brandon next October, said he’s been asked many times if he wants to run as an MLA again, but has “no desire” to do so because of the level of discourse.

City council, by comparison, doesn’t have political parties, and council members are more easily able to work together on bettering the community, he said.

He said if someone is going to attack a politician, it should be because of their policies and not who they are as a person. The rise of “keyboard warriors,” where people make comments online, often without a name attached, also needs to stop, Isleifson said.

As the group’s chair, Marianne Cerilli, who served as the New Democratic Party MLA for Radisson from 1990 to 2003, wants to hear people describe what they believe is a healthy democracy.

“People are very concerned that it seems like there’s an erosion of civility, and it’s very polarized and … hyper partisan,” Cerilli said.

That’s exacerbated by what’s happening in politics in the United States, she said.

Another point to think about, she said, is how governments present bills. Omnibus bills, for example, are often so long and convoluted that it’s difficult to understand for the average person, she said.

The democracy initiative currently has five members — two New Democrats, two Liberals and one PC. The hope is to get to a total of three NDP and three PCs along with the two Liberals from different parts of the province, Cerilli said.

“We do hope that seeing a bunch of former MLAs, who in the past were at odds with each other, working together to do something constructive and positive for democracy — we hope that inspires people to get involved,” Cerilli said.

The group is in the process of creating surveys that will outline the goals and scope it wishes to follow.

Cerilli said the kinds of threats politicians receive now are worse than when she was in office, and they travel farther because of social media.

“People are deciding maybe they’re not going to run because they don’t want to have that headache, and that trouble in their life, and put their family into those kind of positions where they’re going to be threatened,” she said.

Isleifson said while turning the attacks and partisan politics around is “not going to be an easy thing to do,” someone has to try.

“Maybe it’s a pipe dream.”

— Brandon Sun