Manitoba has elected Canada’s first provincial First Nations premier, handing the progressive leader a legislative majority following a contentious election campaign.
Wab Kinew, the 41-year-old head of the leftwing New Democratic party (NDP), has led the province’s party since 2017. A former rapper, broadcast journalist and university administrator, Kinew said his newly elected government will focus on reopening three emergency rooms shuttered in recent years. He also said the province would invest in more social housing.
“A lot of people in the big cities, they look down on us here in Manitoba. ‘Flyover country,’ they said. ‘Winter-peg, Man-it-is-cold-out,’ they said,” Kinew told supporters after securing victory. “But look what little old Manitoba did tonight. Manitoba did something more progressive than any of those big cities ever did. We elected a strong team of New Democrats to fix healthcare and make your life more affordable.”
His win on Tuesday evening also cements his place in the history books as the first First Nations politician to serve as a premier. Kinew, the son of an Anishinaabe chief, spent his youth on Onigaming First Nation land in the neighbouring province of Ontario. The province’s first Indigenous premier was John Norquay, a Métis politician who took office in 1878.
The NDP victory also hands a political lifeline to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has faced stiff opposition from a wall of conservative premiers, stretching from Alberta to Prince Edward Island.
Incumbent premier Heather Stefanson, who pledged to fight the federal carbon tax, took the province’s top job amid party infighting in the fall of 2021. Her election would have marked the first time a woman had been elected as premier in the province.
Ahead of the vote on Tuesday, polls warned that her Progressive Conservatives (PC) were lagging behind the NDP. The party ran controversial ads highlighting their decision not to search a Winnipeg landfill for the remains of two Indigenous women who police believe were killed by a serial killer.
“Mr Kinew and I don’t always agree on everything, but like me, I know that he loves this province and he loves the people of Manitoba,” Stefanson said. “Wab, I hope that your win tonight inspires a future generation of Indigenous youth to get involved in our democratic process – not just here in Manitoba but right across the country.”
Kinew said the “people of Manitoba are good people” while his rivals attempted to drive a wedge by running on a “divisive message”. He used his victory speech to speak directly to Indigenous youth, who he said still face numerous systematic barriers and negative stereotypes, but pledged to create opportunities and supports so they can turn their lives around.
“I want to speak to the young neechies out there,” he said, using an Ojibway word for friend. “My life became immeasurably better when I stopped making excuses and I started looking for a reason. And I found that reason in our family, I found that reason in our community. And I found that reason in our province and country.”
As part of their bid to remain in power, the governing PC party had targeted Kinew’s troubled past, including a criminal charge for assault and another for impaired driving. On the campaign trail, Kinew said a difficult period in his life prompted him to enter politics.
“I was given a second chance in life,” said Kinew. “And I would like to think that I’ve made good on that opportunity.”
