As U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was being deposed in Washington, D.C., amidst the ugly dysfunction of the Republican Party, progressives were scoring a pair of real and symbolic victories north of the border in Winnipeg and Ottawa… achievements in which all Canadians can take pride.
The left-leaning New Democratic Party swept to victory in Manitoba’s provincial election, ousting a two-term Conservative government.
The win means NDP leader Wab Kinew will take office as Canada’s first Aboriginal First Nations premier. The only previous Indigenous premier, a Metis named John Norquay, served between 1878 and 1887.
The MPs of Canada’s federal House of Commons, meanwhile, made history by electing parliament’s first House Speaker who is Black, Greg Fergus, a member of the governing Liberal Party who represents an Ottawa-area riding (district).
The Speaker is elected in an all-party vote.
In a parliamentary tradition, Fergus feigned reluctance and was “dragged” to the Speaker’s chair by Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and opposition Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilieve. Fergus said he will work for “respect and decorum” in a body known for its raucous debate. He comes armed with wit, and experience dating to 1988 when he served as a page delivering papers and cups of water to MPs on the floor of the House of Commons.
Manitoba’s Wab Kinew has been a rap musician, a university administer and a broadcaster before taking over as leader of the New Democrats.
He also has a criminal record as a youth, for which he was pardoned in 2016.
The ruling Conservatives veered right during the campaign, raising his past record and promising a “parents’ bill of rights.”
They took a drubbing. The New Democrats took thirty-four seats in the provincial legislature, up from a previous eighteen.
The Conservatives fell from thirty-six seats to twenty-two, with a lone Liberal Party lawmaker surviving the NDP sweep. The Conservatives were reduced to just three of thirty-two seats in metropolitan Winnipeg.
Why should we care about far-away Manitoba?
Kinew is an example of hope to Indigenous peoples, particularly conflicted young people. He rose above usual victory declarations on election night, talking to his background: “I was given a second chance in life, and I would like to think that I’ve made good on that opportunity.
“And you can do the same – here’s how. 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 of Manitoba and in our country.”
The losing Conservatives ran a dirty campaign, but outgoing Premier Heather Stefanson was gracious in defeat. She spoke in words reminiscent of John McCain on the night of Barack Obama’s victory in 2008. The bitterness of the right, on election night, has lately been the rule in both the United States and Canada.
“Mr. Kinew and I don’t always agree on everything but like, I know that he loves this province, and he loves the people of Manitoba,” said Stefanson.
“Wab, I hope that your win tonight inspires a future generation of Indigenous youth to get involved in politics – right across the country.”
Interestingly, as a winning strategy in Canada’s heartland, the New Democrats borrowed pages from the playbook that has worked for Democrats in “the states.” They took advantage of advance voting: The numbers in Manitoba soared from 116,000 in 2019 to more than 200,000 in this election.
They hammered at a core issue – health care – even as the Tories tried a scattershot of negative attack strategies.
And, like Obama with his Philadelphia address on race in 2008, they had Kinew deliver a highly personal speech, early in the campaign, talking about who he was, what he represented, and the type of government he would offer the province.
On election night, he underscored that theme: “A lot of people in the big cities, they look down on us here in Manitoba,” he said. “’Fly over country’, they said. ‘Winnipeg, man, it’s cold out… but look at what little old Manitoba did tonight. Manitoba did something more than any of those big cities ever did. We elected a strong team of New Democrats to fix health care and make your life more affordable.”
Nationally, the New Democrats usually elect only 25–35 members of Canada’s House of Commons. They are, however, strong in the provinces and particularly the West. The NDP governs British Columbia, just won in Manitoba, and had a stint governing Alberta where it is now a strong opposition. It loses rural ridings but wins in cities across the prairies and in B.C.
Back in Ottawa, Fergus has a job much bigger than controlling debate. He has work to do in restoring the image of Canada’s parliament.
Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy came north last month after speaking to the United Nations General Assembly and meeting with President Biden in Washington, D.C. He embraced Prime Minister Trudeau at meetings in Ottawa and Toronto and was greeted with an all-party standing ovation at the House of Commons.
As part of the warm reception, however, House Speaker Anthony Rota asked a 98-year-old Ukrainian in the galleries, one Yaroslav Hunka, to stand and be recognized. Lawmakers stood to greet him. It was later revealed, however, that Hunka fought with Germany’s Wehrmacht on the Russian front in World War II.
Vladimir Putin was handed a propaganda victory, bigger than any gift he has received from Tucker Carlson, Bobby Kennedy Jr., Matt Gaetz or Marjorie Taylor Greene south of the border. Putin has justified the Ukraine invasion on grounds of rooting out “Nazis” in its government.
The job of Commons Speaker comes with a lovely retreat in the Gatineau Hills north of Ottawa. I’ve been there. It’s ideal place to relax, walk and think.
These days, opposition Conservatives are hard on the heels of Trudeau’s governing Liberals. Perhaps, with help from a new Speaker, the Great White North can show its southern neighbor that a fierce political rivalry can be conducted with rationality and civility. Fergus must also arrange for better background checks on anybody who get introduced from the galleries.
