ManitobaThe leader of Manitoba’s Official Opposition has filed a court action against NDP Premier Wab Kinew, claiming the premier violated the Election Financing Act during the recent Spruce Woods byelection.Wab Kinew needs to apologize ‘for breaking the trust with Manitobans’: Obby KhanCBC News · Posted: Sep 26, 2025 2:55 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoObby Khan speaks to reporters outside of the Law Courts building in Winnipeg on Friday morning. (Fernand Detillieux/Radio-Canada)The leader of Manitoba’s Official Opposition has filed a court action against Premier Wab Kinew, claiming the NDP leader violated the Election Financing Act during the recent Spruce Woods byelection.”Wab Kinew and the NDP think … the rules do not apply to them. I think they’re wrong,” Progressive Conservative Party Leader Obby Khan said Friday morning outside of the Law Courts building in Winnipeg.”The premier needs to admit it and apologize to it for all Manitobans.”The violation complaint stems from an Aug. 21 video reel posted by Kinew on his social media accounts, announcing a plan to repair a section of Highway 2 in the Spruce Woods constituency.The video was posted during the blackout period leading up to the Aug. 26 byelection.The law prohibits the government and Crown agencies from advertising or publishing any information about their programs, with some exceptions, just prior to a general election or byelection.”It tilts the playing field in the government’s favour,” Khan said.”We’ve already filed a complaint with the commissioner of elections but felt … we needed to file the action here in … [Court of King’s Bench] as well.”The PCs won the byelection to retain the seat, which the party has held since 2011, but the NDP made huge strides, coming up short by only 70 votes.The PCs have easily taken the seat with between 60-73 per cent of the vote during four general elections in the past 14 years.Khan is seeking a justice’s “clear declaration” that Kinew and the NDP breached and violated the act.Not much in the way of a penalty would come out of such a ruling, he noted, other than being reimbursed by the premier for the costs of the filing, which Khan says are “negligible.”Khan simply reiterated that Kinew needs to apologize and be held accountable “for breaking the trust with Manitobans.”The Tory leader didn’t say when the filing was made with the commissioner of elections but said he has not heard back about it.As for Friday’s filing, Khan’s lawyer Stephan Thliveris expects it to go before a judge within six months.”This has been brought by application, so it’s very different from a statement of claim. The application moves very, very promptly,” he said.CBC has also requested comment from the NDP on the court action.
Manitoba Tory leader files court action accusing premier of violating election act
