Jeers, jabs, heckling, and yelling may not be associated with leadership, but have become commonplace during question periods at the Manitoba Legislative Building.
“The environment is toxic, I think is the best way to describe it,” University of Manitoba political studies adjunct professor Christopher Adams told Global News.
“This has been building up to things that seem to be almost out of control in the legislature.”
As the spring session in the legislative assembly edges to a close, Adams says the tensions in the chamber go beyond the theatre of question period.
“I think there is personal amimosity between Obby Khan and Wab Kinew, and we’ve seen that over the past few years,” Adams said, noting it was first made visible during a tense encounter between the two in April 2023.
“The barbs have been stronger this past year.”
Andrew Enns, the vice-president of Leger, says it’s not helping the public’s perception of politics.
“The decorum is terrible,” Enns said.
“From the public side, I think unfortunately the impression of politicians is not great. Hasn’t been for a while. So I don’t know if this is particularly adding more damage, but it’s certainly not making people feel like a lot is getting done. It’s sort of like the squabbling kids.”
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While social media may be making decorum in question period more visible to the public, Mary Agnes Welch, a partner at Probe Research, says social media may also play a role in fuelling the fighting.
“It’s pretty abysmal at this point. It’s reached a level of personal attacks, kind of meanness,” Welch said.
“I think whenever there’s a good punch landed, verbal punch landed in the house, both sides — particularly the NDP — tend to like to capitalize on that,” she added.
“Fundraising emails, a good TikTok clip, those sorts of things. And I think that does fuel some of this behaviour.”
The declining decorum has prompted House Speaker Tom Lindsey to ban certain words from question period, including racist and misogynist.
But Duff Conacher, the co-founder of Democracy Watch, says that isn’t necessarily the right approach.
“The speaker banning words is not the right approach, it’s a bad step,” Conacher said. “Because there’s nothing wrong with describing someone’s actions in a derogatory way if you have evidence that meets the definition of the word that you’re using.”
In an interview with Global News Thursday, Manitoba Progressive Conservative leader Obby Khan said he is committed to changing.
“I’ve committed to doing better and I’m going to (d0) better,” Khan said.
“The concerning question is, the premier refuses to … acknowledge he’s made any mistakes. Where I, as leader, have no problem in acknowledging I’ve made mistakes. I’m going to learn from them and I’m going to commit to not do them again. The premier doesn’t say that.”
Global News reached out to the premier’s office for comment Thursday but did not receive a response. During a press conference the week before, however, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said he prefers to make light of things.
“I like to have fun. The PCs are very dour and they’re blocking you from having cheaper groceries, so I like to lighten the mood,” Kinew said last Thursday.
As for what will actually fix the declining decorum, Adams says it’s up to both sides of the house.
“My wife used to say to our kids, ‘I don’t want to know who starts the fighting, I want to know who stops the fighting.’”
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