Opinion: Not everyone gets a second chance in this election

Opinion: Not everyone gets a second chance in this election

Opinion

Manitoba grassroots group Police Accountability Coalition released a report in 2020 entitled: “Community Based Organizations Call for Police Accountability and the Reallocation of Resources.”

Crafted by Black and Indigenous leaders, it called “for meaningful action to address police violence and systemic racism,” due to what they claimed was “widespread mistrust of the police” and “negative experiences with the Winnipeg Police Service and RCMP.”

The report made numerous recommendations; the top one being to “reduce funding to policing at least 10 per cent for the next fiscal year and redirect the funds to community-building initiatives and mental health.”

It also called for the elimination of police officers in public schools, mandatory body cameras on officers and anti-racism training.

A signatory of the report, Titi Tijani, is now the Conservative MLA candidate in Transcona.

This may be a bit surprising, considering recent Tory election campaign ads have accused the provincial NDP of this exact policy (which NDP Leader Wab Kinew has denied), while pointing out Union Station candidate Uzoma Asagwara was a “prominent speaker at a defund-the-police rally.”

So, why would the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba endorse a candidate who openly supports the idea Winnipeg police should be defunded?

Surely, it knew. I found this with a simple internet search.

I’m guessing Tijani had a change in opinion and PC Leader Heather Stefanson gave her a second chance.

Not everyone gets a second chance in this election campaign, though.

For years — going back to Brian Pallister’s days as premier — the Conservative party has put millions of dollars into ads in an effort to remind voters Kinew had past run-ins with the law.

The latest ads say he was “charged with domestic assault, drunk driving and violent assault of a cab driver.”

These are all things that happened when Kinew was in his early 20s — more than 20 years ago.

Kinew applied and received a pardon for his convictions before running for office. As for the alleged domestic assault, the charges were stayed by the Crown.

He has talked these incidents numerous times and expressed regret.

By every single measure in Canadian society, he has taken responsibility, experienced consequences and turned his life around.

However, Kinew doesn’t get a second chance in the eyes of the Conservatives.

If elected Tuesday, however, he will get a second chance — something he will share with Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe.

In 1994, the then-21-year-old (about the same age as Kinew was when he had his run-ins) was charged with impaired driving and fleeing the scene of an accident.

The charges were eventually stayed by the Crown in 1996.

Moe had a criminal history by that point, having been found guilty of impaired driving in 1992.

In 1997, Moe failed to stop his vehicle at an intersection near the town of Shellbrook, Sask., colliding with a car containing a young man and his mother.

Moe was given a traffic ticket for driving without due care and attention.

Jo-Anne Balog, 38, was injured and died in hospital.

Moe’s past became the central focus during the 2020 provincial election, after Balog’s sons publicly demanded an apology.

He and Steve Balog later met in a recorded visit, with Moe stating: “I made a lot of mistakes in my life. I regret one day and that’s that day… I’m so sorry the result was that you missed many years with your mom.”

Voters believed Moe deserved a second chance, giving him and the right-wing Saskatchewan Party a majority government.

The difference, of course, is Moe isn’t a First Nations man.

Non-Indigenous politicians get seemingly dozens of second chances for inappropriate behaviour and criminal actions. Even worse, these kinds of incidents tend to happen while they are in office, not decades ago.

Make a list of non-Indigenous politicians who do inappropriate and/or criminal things and are voted back in anyways. You’ll find a list of names that include Canadian mayors, MPs and MLAs and U.S. presidents.

Non-Indigenous politicians get to just say “oops” and “sorry” and the sun rises the next day on their political career. Some even openly disregard or say the law doesn’t apply to them.

Stefanson has been given second chances, too.

The Manitoba premier was found guilty last year of breaking provincial conflict of interest rules for failing to disclose millions of dollars in real estate sales. In 2002, she performed dozens of inappropriate transactions as an investment adviser while suspended.

Second chances come for some; for others, they’re endless.

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