Opposition PCs call for investigation into bullying claim against Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew

Manitoba’s Opposition Progressive Conservatives are calling for an independent investigation into claims Premier Wab Kinew is a toxic leader and bully after allegations raised by a former member of Kinew’s NDP team who was kicked out of caucus this week.

“These are shocking revelations and behaviours that are unbecoming of any premier, though not a surprise,” Wayne Ewasko, the interim leader of the Opposition party, told reporters Tuesday, a day after MLA Mark Wasyliw called Kinew a dysfunctional leader who pressures, bullies and demeans those who disagree with him.

Wasyliw, a criminal defence lawyer who has maintained his practice after being elected to the legislature, made the comments after being booted from the NDP caucus Monday.

Wasyliw was removed because a partner at the law firm where he works is representing convicted sex offender and disgraced fashion mogul Peter Nygard, which signifies a “failure to demonstrate good judgment” on Wasyliw’s part, caucus chair Mike Moyes said in a Monday news release.

In a letter provided to CBC News, Ewasko wrote to NDP MLA Tom Lindsey, the Speaker of the House, asking for a third-party investigation into Wasyliw’s claims against Kinew. 

Wasyliw said Monday he didn’t believe his expulsion from the NDP’s ranks had anything to do with the Nygard case. His colleague Gerri Wiebe began representing the convicted sex offender in June.

Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, Kinew said he supports caucus’s decision to boot Wasyliw. He said it was disappointing to hear the MLA had “chosen to push a lamp off the table on his way out the door,” adding he was given the choice of quitting his legal practice or being kicked out of caucus after Nygard was sentenced to 11 years in prison last week for four counts of sexual assault in Toronto.

“When there’s a push notification on your phone that says a name that’s affiliated with somebody on your team, it puts things into stark relief, and I think that’s where a lot of the concern came from,” Kinew said.

He also noted Nygard still faces charges in Winnipeg, and having a sitting NDP MLA working at the same firm as Nygard’s lawyer was “going to cause at the very least the perception of a problem.”

Kinew also said his government intends to introduce legislation that would prevent the rich and powerful from using lawsuits to silence critics, something commonly referred to as anti-SLAPP legislation — short for “strategic lawsuits against public participation” — in response to Nygard suing one of his accusers for defamation.

“So how can we have somebody on our team who’s affiliated with that? It doesn’t make sense,” he said. 

Kinew said he respects the important role of defence lawyers but said while everyone has a right to a defence, “you do not have a right to be defended by an MLA.”

Kinew says ousted MLA chose his law practice over his NDP team

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said he fully supports his NDP caucus’s decision to turf MLA Mark Wasyliw over concerns surrounding a colleague at his legal firm representing convicted sex offender Peter Nygard.

He also denied Wasyliw’s allegations about him, saying he’s never bullied or raised his voice at anyone at work and invites dissenting opinions.

PC Leader Ewasko said he doesn’t think Kinew seems to be taking Wasyliw’s claims seriously, accusing the premier of “denying and dodging and deflecting.”

Concerns about Wasyliw maintaining his legal practice while serving as an MLA have been raised a number of times, including by the PC caucus while the party was in power.

The issue was also raised just after the NDP formed government last fall, with the MLA saying he would have time to continue taking cases as a defence lawyer because he had not been named to Kinew’s cabinet.

Lawyers concerned

The reasoning given for Wasyliw’s ousting has drawn condemnation from many in the legal community, including the Manitoba Bar Association, the Manitoba Association of Crown Attorneys and Wiebe, the lawyer representing Nygard.

Christopher Gamby of the Criminal Defence Lawyers Association of Manitoba also raised concerns about the NDP’s rationale. He said while Wasyliw and Wiebe were previously longtime law partners at a firm that no longer exists, Wasyliw is now just an associate at another firm, where Wiebe is a partner.

That means he has no ability to dictate who the firm represents, which Gamby said leaves him questioning the link the NDP claims between Wasyliw and Nygard.

“I don’t actually see how that is an association. Generally lawyers don’t work on each other’s cases,” Gamby said.

“I don’t really know how this is all of a sudden an issue … that someone that he’s affiliated with is representing somebody who happens to be high profile. It wasn’t a problem that he was acting as a defence lawyer before.”

People in Fort Garry, the area Wasyliw represents, also had the saga on their minds Tuesday. That included Patrick Kostyniuk, who said he’s not surprised to hear Wasyliw was removed from caucus.

“You have to follow your leader,” Kostyniuk said. “That’s what he’s there for.”

Resident Pat Dirks said he’s of two minds about it — while he thinks it would be unfair to throw Wasyliw out for working at the same firm as Nygard’s lawyer, he doesn’t believe that’s the only reason for the move.

“I firmly believe that he’s had a dispute with Wab Kinew since he didn’t get his seat at the cabinet table, and I think that he’s probably stirring things up and probably isn’t really a good member of the team,” Dirks said.

“I highly doubt that it’s all because of Nygard. I think that’s probably an excuse, or the straw that broke the camel’s back.”