Kinew’s message for PM: don’t back down

Let it be known that when Canada’s provinces and alcohol industries needed a defender, Canada’s first First Nations provincial premier was their greatest warrior.

This is, admittedly, a provocative opening line — referencing historical and cultural intersections and relying on a stereotype or two.

It’s impossible, however, not to see how important the nearly Canada-wide provincial-led ban on the sale of U.S. alcohol is to Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew.

It’s due to his stand on national matters like these that he’s become very popular — according to polls, the most popular premier in Canada — and has been empowered to take on the mantle of one of the captains of “Team Canada” on economic, political and domestic issues.

No moment is more keenly seized upon by Kinew, though, than the chance to take a stand against the economic policies of U.S. President Donald Trump.

There are, in fact, few people Kinew speaks more publicly about than Trump — including, notably, Manitoba Progressive Conservative Leader and Official Opposition Leader Obby Khan.

I could cite numerous times Kinew has mimicked the catchphrases or actions of the U.S. president, or the press conferences where he references the Epstein files or the upcoming U.S. mid-term elections, but the best example is how Kinew speaks with pride about having joined other Canadian premiers in banning the sale of U.S. liquor since March 2025.

This makes sense. Kinew has a lot to gain through the U.S. booze ban.

The ban is populist and supports Canadian alcohol producers, but also deeply impacts industries in the United States — particularly bourbon producers in Republican and Trump-friendly states like Kentucky and vintners in California.

It’s simply produced results, with Canadian-made spirits and wine generating new interest at home while U.S. alcohol exports to Canada plunged by about 80 per cent from March 2025 to February 2026 compared to the same period the year before — representing a loss to the U.S. economy of more than $580 million.

The ban, though, has done something much more significant: it has reminded Canadians that provinces and territories are entities that can act independently.

Kinew has found a position here as a conscience for Prime Minister Mark Carney — and perhaps a voice even as powerful as that of federal Official Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre.

For the past few months, Kinew has not shied away from expressing his feelings about the political future of U.S. President Donald Trump.

“I think Donald Trump is very weak. I think America is weaker around the world today than it was a year ago. He’s about to get slaughtered in the mid-terms,” Kinew told reporters at a press conference Thursday. “I think we’ve got the upper hand. They’re back on their heels right now. They’re coming to us for a deal, and so I think we should fight.”

For Kinew, the U.S. booze ban is the front line of a war — a fight he’s willing to stake political capital on, and even the province’s relationship with the federal government.

On Wednesday, Carney held a conference call with Canada’s premiers where he stated that in order to avert massive tariffs on nearly $30 billion worth of Canadian goods, premiers needed to put American alcohol back on provincial shelves.

Well, maybe the PM did a little more than “stated.”

“I was told by the prime minister that he wants us to put the booze back on the shelves,” Kinew told reporters. “I wouldn’t say that he was begging us, but what is a step before begging?”

It was a minor — but notable — criticism of Carney by Kinew, implying publicly that the prime minister is capitulating too much to Trump in trade negotiations.

And, while stating he would follow the decision of “Team Canada” in putting U.S. alcohol back on shelves, Kinew went a step further.

“Hypothetically, let’s say there was a deal that the prime minister really, really recommended and we decided to put the booze back on the shelves,” the he said. “What I would say to Canadians is, ‘Leave it there.’ If we put the booze back on the shelves, don’t buy it.”

Imagine how that little detail could be construed by the Americans at the negotiating table.

It’s nothing new for a premier to criticize the moves of a prime minister, but to do so in the middle of a trade negotiation is a strategic move by Kinew, illustrating three points.

First: that Canada’s trade negotiations aren’t just with the United States but with the provinces — and the prime minister best remember that.

Second: that the prime minister must not “beg” but “sell” any deal with the United States to the provinces — and they need to benefit as much as they are with the ban in place.

And third: that the economic and political battles with the U.S. and Donald Trump, according to provincial premiers, is not over — not by a long shot.

In this, Kinew has become more than a voice unafraid of Trump, and an advocate for Canada’s provinces and liquor industries. He has challenged the prime minister to become a warrior too.

niigaan.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca