Fourteen months after Brian Pallister’s Progressive Conservatives won their first majority government in Manitoba, the PC caucus expelled Assiniboia MLA Steven Fletcher.
Pallister refused to specify why Fletcher had been pushed out.
“Every caucus, every community organization, every sports team, every business has rules of conduct for those members. And being in a caucus and being in any organization requires those rules to be followed,” Pallister said in 2017, when Fletcher was expelled.
“Sadly, sometimes people decide that they’d rather not and so they work alone.”
In a move that parallels Pallister’s ejection of Fletcher, Premier Wab Kinew’s New Democrats saw enough of Mark Wasyliw early on to eject the Fort Garry MLA from caucus 10 months after the NDP won a majority.
The major difference is the NDP government offered an explanation for getting rid of Wasyliw — then changed it and took it back.
On Sept. 16, when the NDP announced Wasyliw’s expulsion, caucus chair Mike Moyes cited Wasyliw’s legal/business association with lawyer Gerri Wiebe, who is representing convicted sexual predator Peter Nygard in court.
“The decision came after our caucus learned that MLA Wasyliw’s business partner is acting as Peter Nygard’s criminal defence lawyer,” Moyes said in a statement. “MLA Wasyliw’s failure to demonstrate good judgment does not align with our caucus principles of mutual respect and trust.”
That decision provoked outrage within the legal community, which resented Moyes impugning the work of defence lawyers on the basis that even a tenuous connection to a criminal defendant — Wasyliw has never defended Nygard — serves as grounds for professional dismissal.
Two days later, as criticism from the law profession mounted, Moyes offered a separate reason for cutting ties with Wasyliw.
Wasyliw’s professional association with Wiebe, Moyes said on Sept. 18, was merely the “straw that broke the camel’s back” in terms of the NDP’s professional association with Wasyliw.
“There’s been many disrespectful incidents where he has disrespected numerous caucus members, cabinet ministers and the premier, and there’s been incidents where he didn’t follow our process,” Moyes told reporters.
In other words, Moyes suggested Wasyliw was punted because he was not a team player. That seemed to be the official reason until Wednesday, when Kinew stood inside the legislative chamber and reverted to the earlier explanation.
“The reasons given for the expulsion of one of our former MLAs were accurate,” Kinew said toward the start of question period.
“However, upon reflection, my desire for transparency to the people of Manitoba should have been outweighed by my deep respect for the independence of the justice system.”
Kinew then apologized to the legal community, something he said he would not do when asked about an apology on Sept. 20.
“All that I should have said publicly is that there are irreconcilable differences with that MLA and we wish him well,” Kinew said Wednesday.
The premier’s messaging was clear: He maintains it was Wasyliw’s connection with Nygard, through Wiebe, that led to the lawyer-MLA’s expulsion from caucus.
In effect, Kinew has doubled down — or perhaps tripled or quadrupled down — on his suggestion that defence lawyers are engaging in something dishonourable or disreputable as a result of their work as defence lawyers.
It would be fair to describe the premier’s apology as an expression of regret for stating an offensive opinion out loud.
But that’s not the only issue with Kinew’s statement about Wasyliw in the legislature. The idea that the premier was motivated by transparency bears scrutiny.
Simple information withheld
It is fair to question whether transparency is a priority for this premier and his government, as there are a number of examples where the Kinew government has refused to divulge simple information about government spending.
Kinew was sworn in as premier on Oct. 17, 2023. Since then, he has not posted his out-of-province travel expenses. The disclosure of this spending is usually proactive and routine. His office also has not produced these numbers following requests by CBC News.
The NDP government has also declined repeated requests by CBC News to state what it has spent to house residents of Birchwood Terrace, a private apartment building in Winnipeg. Tenants have questioned why the government is forking over this cash after they were forced out of the privately owned residential building due to structural concerns.
Kinew also said this week he will not divulge what the province has agreed to pay True North Real Estate Development to lease 265,000 square feet of space in a forthcoming medical tower at Portage Place. The municipal and federal governments have announced what they will contribute to the Portage Place redevelopment project.
Nonetheless, the real issue remains the motivation to push out Wasyliw.
Again, the Fletcher case offers parallels.
Before the Pallister PC caucus pushed out Fletcher, the Assiniboia MLA annoyed his colleagues by supporting organ-donation legislation, criticizing the province’s decision to create Efficiency Manitoba and then filibustering a committee meeting and thus delaying the passage of a PC bill that created the stand-alone Crown corporation.
Before the Kinew NDP caucus pushed out Wasyliw, the Fort Garry MLA refused to shake Kinew’s hand after he was sworn into office without being granted a cabinet position and then continued to work as a lawyer, even after Kinew criticized that move by stating serving as an MLA is not a part-time job.
Kinew could have simply blamed his “irreconcilable differences” with Wasyliw on the MLA’s obduracy.
Instead, the premier continues to insist Wasyliw can’t serve alongside Moyes because Wiebe defended Nygard. As well, the only reason the public ever had to be subjected to this logic, according to Kinew, was a desire for transparency.
