With their party on pace for its worst electoral showing in five decades, Flin Flon and area New Democrats are keeping the faith.
“We do not want another Gary Filmon slash-and-burn-style Conservative government,” says Ken Mansell.
A retired teacher, Mansell has actively backed the NDP since the 1990s but believes the party is guilty of missteps.
“The Bipole III project is a good example of a waste of taxpayers’ money,” he says, referring to the controversial hydro transmission line. “The [2013] hike in the PST was way too ham-fisted with practically no consultation. Of course it was also a lie – [Premier Greg] Selinger promised he would not do this. It also was supposed to be implemented only after a referendum.”
Those and other contentious decisions have contributed to the governing NDP’s turmoil. A Probe Research poll released in late December put the party’s province-wide support at just
26 per cent.
If that result holds up in the 2016 election, the NDP will garner its lowest share of the vote since 1966, when 23 per cent of Manitoba voters handed the party a meager 11 seats.
“There is some truth to the suggestion that we’re struggling,” says Alex Mcgilvery, president of the Flin Flon NDP Association. “Part of it is a shift to the right. We’ve been governing more like a centrist government than a true NDP. Part of that is pressure from outside to conform to the austerity myth, and part is the habits of government. We do what has worked in the past and take fewer risks.”
Mcgilvery, a pastor, believes the province should have considered adjusting the “less regressive” income tax rather than upping the PST.
Regardless, Mcgilvery is now looking forward to the NDP’s upcoming leadership vote, which will pit Winnipeg MLA Theresa Oswald and Thompson MLA Steve Ashton against incumbent premier Greg Selinger.
At this point both Mansell and Mcgilvery favour Oswald, a former teacher and school administrator who was first elected to the legislature in 2003.
“She is the most electable of all the candidates and has the best chance of leading the party in the election coming next year,” says Mansell.
“In the days of the pony express, when your horse got tired you got on a fresh one. Changing leaders will help. I think Theresa Oswald can make better decisions.”
For his part Mcgilvery believes Oswald is an energetic politician and good speaker who would strengthen Manitoba’s social safety net.
“With the leadership race and the discussion that is coming out about future directions, I think that whoever wins it will be a different-looking party and a more focused government,” adds Mcgilvery.
As fearful as many New Democrats are about their party’s prospects across the province, many believe the Flin Flon constituency remains a safe seat.
And with good reason. The riding has been orange since 1969, when Thomas Barrow – for whom the Barrow Provincial Building is named – took the seat by a slim 370-vote margin.
Since then, no other party has come close to conquering the constituency, even in years when it was obvious the New Democrats would occupy the opposition benches.
That said, current NDP MLA Clarence Pettersen has failed to win over all party loyalists.
His decision to skip a 2012 pro-labour rally in Flin Flon, for instance, cost him the support of Hudbay unions.
Pettersen later argued it would have been improper for him to attend the rally, which he said became “quite personal” against Hudbay CEO David Garofalo.
“I do not feel that it was appropriate for me to take an active role in direct opposition to the company and to an individual whom I look forward to working cooperatively with in the future on potentially many matters,” Pettersen wrote in a letter to the editor.
More recently, Pettersen’s public calls for Premier Selinger to resign have rubbed some New Democrats the wrong way.
At a public forum in December, long-time party backer Dallas Mymko chastised Pettersen for failing to support Selinger and suggested the MLA do a poll of Flin Flon to see if he himself would be re-elected.
Pettersen’s predecessor, Gerard Jennissen, called Pettersen’s stance toward Selinger unfair and noted the premier brought the NDP a record 37 seats.
For his part Pettersen stressed his fear that the NDP cannot win with Selinger as leader and that a loss would unravel years of progress for Manitoba.
Not surprisingly, Mcgilvery argues that the NDP remains the best option for Flin Flon.
“The NDP are pro-union,” he says. “There is no other party that supports unions. The attempted legislation against [public sector] strikes in Saskatchewan shows that other groups have painted a target on unions and will continue to blame them for the failures of corporations to address the needs of their employees.”
Mcgilvery says the NDP government has made substantial investments in Flin Flon, and there’s no guarantee a different party would uphold those commitments.
Mansell says he wants to see progress continue on highway upgrades between Flin Flon and Bakers Narrows, and the new Flin Flon General Hospital ER, both of which are supported by the NDP.
When New Democrats choose a leader at the party’s annual convention in Winnipeg from March 6 to 8, Mcgilvery will be there.
“I’m signed up and raring to go,” he says.
As they attempt to turn the page on a tumultuous chapter in their party’s history, many New Democrats feel the same way.
