NDP MLAs who recently called on Premier Greg Selinger to quit, including Flin Flon’s Clarence Pettersen, had “no knowledge of the contents” of last week’s provincial throne speech before it was delivered, reports the Winnipeg Sun.
The Sun and other media outlets also pointed out that the six dissident MLAs showed up for the speech wearing different carnations than the rest of the NDP caucus.
Former cabinet minister Theresa Oswald, now a backbencher, said since the MLAs were not at the last caucus meeting, they didn’t know what carnations to order or what the speech would entail, the Sun reported.
Pettersen, Oswald and four other NDP MLAs – Andrew Swan, Erin Selby, Stan Struthers and Jennifer Howard – are barred from attending caucus meetings or having any role in government decision making, other than through their votes in the legislature.
For his part, Selinger said the differing carnations should not be taken as a sign his caucus is not unified.
“The colours of the corsages are really secondary to those responsibilities” of being present and representing constituents, he said, as quoted by the Sun.
For more on the throne speech, see
pg. 12.
