COLUMN: Think Again – Kinew playing games with byelection timing

When federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre lost his seat in the 2025 election, Damien Kurek stepped down from his Alberta seat so that Poilievre could run in his place. It was a magnanimous gesture.

The timing of the byelection is up to the prime minister, who has up to 180 days to call it. To his credit, Prime Minister Mark Carney agreed to call the byelection at the earliest available opportunity. He followed through on his commitment, and that byelection will take place on Aug. 18. That’s how things are supposed to be done.

The purpose of a byelection is to fill an empty seat. Residents in that constituency have the right to have their own representative, which is why byelections should happen sooner rather than later.

It’s too bad Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew doesn’t operate the same way. On March 24, Spruce Woods MLA Grant Jackson stepped down from his seat to run for federal Parliament. Today, Spruce Woods residents are still waiting for Kinew to call a byelection so they can have an MLA once again.

Interestingly, on two previous occasions, Kinew called byelections relatively quickly. When Heather Stefanson stepped down from her Tuxedo seat last year, Kinew called a byelection within just a few weeks. Still riding a wave of popularity from their political honeymoon, the NDP were able to snatch that seat away from the Tories.

Meanwhile, it’s been well over 100 days since the Spruce Woods seat became vacant and there’s still no byelection in sight. When pressed on this by a CBC reporter last week, Kinew let it slip that he was holding off on calling the byelection because he wanted to give his party a better chance to win the byelection.

“I don’t know if everyone in the province knows what I’m like, but there’s no freebies with me,” explained Kinew.

In other words, Kinew is willing to sacrifice the right of voters to have their own representative because he wants to give his party more time to organize in that riding. It’s a selfish move on his part, and it’s sad that Kinew would so blatantly put his partisan interests ahead of what’s best for Manitobans.

Now, there are times when it might be appropriate to delay calling a byelection. For example, when a popular MLA dies suddenly, it makes sense to give people a proper opportunity to grieve. But even in this type of situation, Kinew has proven that his personal interests come first.

For example, when Transcona MLA Nello Altomare died of cancer last year, the byelection to replace him was held within only 63 days. Kinew figured that his party would likely win the seat, and this gave him an incentive to call the byelection as quickly as possible. NDP candidate Shannon Corbett then handily won that byelection.

The simple truth is that Kinew is waiting as long as possible to call the Spruce Woods byelection because he knows the NDP has no realistic chance of winning that seat. He doesn’t seriously think that the NDP is going to take that Tory stronghold. Rather, Kinew just wants to deprive the Tories of another MLA in the Legislature. It’s just the type of thing you’d expect from someone who doesn’t like to be challenged.

I’m not a supporter of Prime Minister Mark Carney, but I respect that fact that he didn’t play games with the Alberta byelection. It’s too bad that Premier Wab Kinew cannot show the same type of statesmanship.

The people of Spruce Woods deserve a new MLA now, not months from now. The premier should do the right thing and call a byelection.

Michael Zwaagstra is a high school teacher and deputy mayor of Steinbach.