January 16, 2021

Winnipeg
-12° C, Partly cloudy

Full Forecast

Contact Us Subscribe Manage Subscription Chat with us
Log in Create Free Account Help Chat with us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising Contact
    • Submit a News Tip
    • Subscribe to Newsletters

    • Finding your
      information

    • My Account
    • Manage my Subscription
    • Change Password

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate

    • Log Out
    • Log in
    • Create Free Account
    • Help

    • Grid View
    • List View
    • Compact View
    • Text Size
    • Translate
  • Coronavirus Coverage
  • Replica E-Edition
    • About the E-Edition
    • Winnipeg Free Press
    • The Herald
    • The Headliner
    • The Lance
    • The Metro
    • The Sou'Wester
    • The Times
  • Above the Fold
  • Front page
  • Arts & Life
    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Book Club
    • Cannabis
    • Celebrities
    • Diversions
    • Puzzles
    • Environment
    • Events
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Your Health
    • Life & Style
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Science & Technology
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Business
    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
  • Canada
  • Local
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor
  • Sports
    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Auto Racing
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • Golf
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Horse Racing
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Olympics
    • Soccer
  • World
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Advertising
    • Contact Us
    • Carrier Positions & Retailer Requests
    • FP Newspapers Inc.
    • History
    • Internships
    • Job Opportunities
    • News Café
    • Privacy Policy
    • Retail Locations
    • Staff Biographies
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Archives
  • Canstar Community News
    • All Canstar Community News
    • The Headliner
    • The Herald
    • The Lance
    • The Metro
    • The Sou'wester
    • The Times
    • Sports
    • Events
    • Contact Us
    • E-Editions
  • Classifieds
  • Contests
  • Coupons
    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print Coupons
    • Ripley's Aquariums Coupons
    • The Bay Coupons
    • Staples Canada Coupons
    • Altitude Sports Coupons
    • Nike Coupons
    • Tuango Coupons
    • Ebay Canada Coupons
    • Sport Chek Coupons
    • Roots Coupons
  • Sponsored
    • Publications
    • Sponsored Articles
  • Flyers
  • Homes
    • Property Listings
    • Featured News
    • Renovation and design
    • New homes
    • Resale homes
  • Newsletters
  • Obituaries
  • Puzzles
  • Photostore
  • More

©2021 FP Newspaper Inc.

Close
  • Quick Links

    • Coronavirus Coverage
    • Above the Fold
    • Home
    • Local
    • Canada
    • World
    • Classifieds
    • Special Coverage
    • Flyers
    • Newsletters
    • Obituaries
    • Photostore
    • Archives
    • Contests
    • Publications
    • Sponsored Content
    • Privacy Policy

    Ways to support us

    • Pay it Forward program
    • Subscribe
    • Day Pass
    • Read Now Pay later
  • Replica E-Edition

    • About the E-Edition
    • Winnipeg Free Press
    • The Herald
    • The Headliner
    • The Lance
    • The Metro
    • The Sou'Wester
    • The Times

    Business

    • All Business
    • Agriculture
    • Personal Finance
  • Arts & Life

    • All Arts & Life
    • The Arts
    • Autos
    • Books
    • Cannabis
    • Celebrities
    • Diversions
    • Puzzles
    • Environment
    • Events
    • Faith
    • Food & Drink
    • Your Health
    • Life & Style
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Science & Technology
    • TV
    • Travel
  • Sports

    • All Sports
    • Amateur
    • Auto Racing
    • Blue Bombers
    • Curling
    • Football
    • Goldeyes
    • Golf
    • High School
    • Hockey
    • Horse Racing
    • Winnipeg Jets
    • Manitoba Moose
    • WHL
    • MLB
    • NBA
    • Olympics
    • Soccer
  • Opinion

    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Columnists
    • Editorials
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Send a Letter to the Editor

    Media

    • All Media
    • Photo Galleries
    • Videos

    Homes

    • Property Listings
    • Featured News
    • Renovation and design
    • New homes
    • Resale homes
  • Canstar Community News

    • All Canstar Community News
    • The Headliner
    • The Herald
    • The Lance
    • The Metro
    • The Sou'wester
    • The Times
    • Sports
    • Events
    • Contact Us
    • E-Editions
  • Coupons

    • All Coupons
    • Staples Copy & Print Coupons
    • Ripley's Aquariums Coupons
    • The Bay Coupons
    • Staples Canada Coupons
    • Altitude Sports Coupons
    • Nike Coupons
    • Tuango Coupons
    • Ebay Canada Coupons
    • Sport Chek Coupons
    • Roots Coupons
  • About Us

    • About Us
    • Advertising
    • Contact Us
    • Carrier Positions & Retailer Requests
    • FP Newspapers Inc.
    • History
    • Internships
    • Job Opportunities
    • News Café
    • Privacy Policy
    • Retail Locations
    • Staff Biographies
    • Terms and Conditions
Winnipeg Free Press

ABOVE THE FOLD

Subscribe
Articles Read Your Balance +tax

Wab Kinew downplays Soviet flag flap

Manitoba NDP leader accused of supporting 'a tyrannical and oppressive regime' by PC MLA

By: Dylan Robertson | Posted: 05/28/2019 7:00 PM

Scroll
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Print
  • Email

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/5/2019 (599 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — NDP Leader Wab Kinew is distancing himself from left-wing activists, saying they promote "hate and oppression" by flying the Soviet flag.

"There is no appeasement that I have to do as a leader," Kinew said Tuesday in an interview on the sidelines of a union conference in Ottawa.

On Monday, Southdale MLA Andrew Smith tweeted a photo of Kinew and other NDP MLAs and candidates at a Winnipeg rally last Saturday beside the red flag of the Soviet Union.

Smith decried them for supporting "a tyrannical and oppressive regime" which his maternal grandparents escaped after relatives died in the Holodomor, the forced starvation of Ukrainians.

Seeing the NDP MLAs standing beside the Soviet Flag reminds me of when I took over the constituency office from the former Southdale NDP MLA, I found a Soviet Flag. My grandparents fled to Canada from the tyranny of the socialist #SovietUnion. #mbpoli pic.twitter.com/c66AyqVvGy

— Andrew Smith (@smith4southdale) May 27, 2019

"I was very disheartened to see anybody would be standing, knowingly, in a picture like that," he said in an interview.

By Tuesday, the PC Party added a caption to the photo, and was tweeting it from its party account.

Kinew said he suspected the PCs were trying to link the NDP with radicals ahead of a snap election.

"This is something that the Tories have kicked up to cause a distraction," Kinew said.

Provincial NDP leader Wab Kinew (far right) at the Solidarity Forever Parade on Saturday. (Facebook)

Provincial NDP leader Wab Kinew (far right) at the Solidarity Forever Parade on Saturday. (Facebook)

"That said, I'm not a communist sympathizer by any means. I recognize the communist regimes in the Soviet Union and China are responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people," he said, describing himself as "not even much of socialist — I'm a progressive young person."

On Twitter, Smith also claimed he found a Soviet flag in this constituency office he took over from the NDP’s Erin Selby.

That was news to Selby, who said she and her former staff only ever had Manitoba and Canada flags.

"None of us quite understand where this is coming from," she said. "A lot of people see it as a symbol of hate and oppression, and representing crimes against humanity."

Smith said it was no false flag — he said a staffer came across the flag, tucked under the carpet when they were moving into the 119 Vermillion Rd. office in 2016.

The flag flap has upset Mieke Ruth, who helps runs a socialist club at the University of Winnipeg.

"It’s sad to see Wab capitulate so easily," said Ruth.

She said Soviet Union was "far from a utopia" but deserves a nuanced unpacking of its successes and failures, instead of dismissing it as "a horrible human-rights abuser."

I condemn all symbols of hate and oppression, including the Soviet flag. I am reaffirming my commitment to stand against all genocides and crimes against humanity

— Wab Kinew (@WabKinew) May 27, 2019

Her campus group struggles with whether to use the hammer and sickle, because the "bad optics" draw controversy instead of debate.

University of Manitoba geopolitics professor Radhika Desai said Kinew should have instead stood up to "typical mainstream anti-communism" that dates back to the Cold War.

Desai said the whole point of people bringing the flag to the demonstration harks back to the role of communists in the 1919 General Strike, which helped build labour rights.

"These are the radical traditions to which we owe many of the things we are thankful for, whether it is a socialized health-care system, public education or the welfare state," said Desai, head of Canada’s Society for Socialist Studies.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca

Stay informed

The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19.

Subscribe to COVID-19 Briefing
Sign Up

  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Print
  • Email
  • Report Error
  • Submit a Tip
  • Refund

The Winnipeg Free Press invites you to share your opinion on this story in a letter to the editor. A selection of letters to the editor are published daily.

To submit a letter:
• fill out the form on this page, or
• email letters@freepress.mb.ca, or
• mail Letters to the Editor, 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R2X 3B6.

Letters must include the writer’s full name, address, and a daytime phone number. Letters are edited for length and clarity.

Top