Politicians who harp on Klein’s history with Nygard do so at their own peril

It was probably the easiest prediction to make in Winnipeg politics this week: the moment Kevin Klein officially entered the mayoral race, someone would bring up Peter Nygard.

Sure enough, they did.

And it was led by Klein’s chief political opponent in this race, Mayor Scott Gillingham, who called Klein a “fixer” for the convicted sex offender.

None of this is particularly surprising.

Klein worked for Nygard for a few months in 2012 and another couple of weeks in 2014. Nygard was eventually convicted of multiple counts of sexual assault and is now in prison.

Klein has said repeatedly that he had no idea about Nygard’s criminal behaviour when he worked for him.

There is no independent evidence that proves Klein knew what Nygard was doing. There is also no independent evidence that can prove he didn’t.

And there probably never will be.

That leaves voters with a choice: believe Klein’s explanation or don’t.

But there is another question worth asking as this campaign gets underway: What happens if this remains the principal line of attack against him?

Because this isn’t the first time voters have heard this.

The Nygard issue was raised when Klein ran for mayor in 2022. And it was raised repeatedly when he was a provincial MLA. Now it’s being raised again as he launches another mayoral campaign, even though there’s nothing new to the story.

The danger for Klein’s opponents is that repeating the same accusation over and over, without any new evidence, could backfire on them.

Klein is understandably angry about the attacks. He is now suggesting he could take legal action against Gillingham over what he calls a “smear campaign” based on lies and “conspiracy theories.”

That seems unlikely to go very far.

Politics is a rough business. Political opponents take swipes at one another. Sometimes those swipes are unfair. Sometimes they are nasty.

But the courts aren’t supposed to referee every ugly political exchange.

That job generally belongs to the court of public opinion.

And the court of public opinion can have a funny way of punishing politicians who overplay their hand.

Premier Wab Kinew’s criminal past comes to mind.

For years, the Progressive Conservative party has reminded voters about Kinew’s criminal convictions before he entered politics. It was, at first, a legitimate part of his biography and certainly something voters were entitled to know about.

But the Tories and others kept hammering away at it for years. And eventually, the attacks began to have the opposite effect, especially during the 2023 provincial election.

Instead of making Kinew’s criminal past the central issue of the election, the Tories’ fixation on it (as well as other toxic political messaging) became the issue.

Voters had heard it before. And they heard it again and again and at some point, people began wondering whether the opposition had anything else to say.

The backlash became part of the story.

That doesn’t mean Klein should be immune from scrutiny. His record as a city councillor should be examined. His record as a provincial cabinet minister should be examined. His policy positions, judgment and political associations should all be fair game.

That includes his time working for Nygard.

But there is a difference between asking legitimate questions about someone’s past and repeatedly implying an association with a disgraced individual somehow proves complicity in that person’s crimes.

Klein worked for Nygard. That is a fact.

What Klein knew about Nygard’s behaviour at the time is not established by the evidence we have publicly.

If Gillingham and his supporters want to make Nygard the defining issue of this campaign, they are entitled to do so. But they should understand the risks.

Attack politics in Canadian elections has its limits. Just ask federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, whose incessant personal attacks against his opponents not only contributed to his loss in the 2025 election, it continues to hurt him and his party.

The same thing can happen at the municipal level. The more voters hear an old accusation without new evidence, the less attention they pay to it — and the more attention they pay to the person repeating it.

Klein is the underdog in this race, mainly because it’s extremely difficult to unseat an incumbent mayor in Winnipeg.

If he wants to win, the former provincial cabinet minister will have to convince voters he’s the better choice for mayor. He has to explain his record. He has to withstand scrutiny over the positions he’s taken in the past.

But if his opponents make Nygard their favourite subject throughout the entire campaign, they should be careful what they wish for.

It could, over time, have the opposite effect of what they intended.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca