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A day after a majority of Progressive Conservative MLAs refused to appear in the chamber following a statement recognizing Transgender Day of Remembrance, the backlash reverberated across the legislature, with government MLAs repeatedly booing the Conservatives and the prime minister calling the PC leader a “bigot”.
The ruling NDP spent much of Friday’s question period condemning the Conservatives for remaining seated after the speech, calling it a harmful act against transgender people.
Meanwhile, PC leader Obby Khan said he remained seated because the speech was politically charged and touched on other issues, rather than commemorating and honoring the transgender community.
“If this was about the lives lost and the suffering of the trans and marginalized community, I would have defended it 100 percent,” Khan told reporters.
“It wasn’t. It was politically charged and motivated, exactly what this NDP government wanted to do.”
Thursday’s speech was read by Kirkfield Park MP Logan Oxenham, the first openly transgender person elected to the Manitoba legislature.
It began by recognizing Transgender Day of Remembrance as “a solemn day to honor the lives of transgender and gender diverse people lost to violence, discrimination and despair.”
Oxenham then claimed that trans people continue to face “selective political attacks,” referencing Alberta’s decision to invoke the notwithstanding clause to protect three bills affecting transgender youth and adults from legal challenges. Oxenham called the move “horrible and harmful.”
The Alberta government has argued the bills. protect the well-being of children and young people and increase parents’ access to information and decision-making power over children, while critics say they violate rights based on misinformation.
Oxenham added that Manitoba has “chosen a different path” that supports the trans community.
“Today I call on all political leaders in this province and country to take a stand and condemn the abuse of the notwithstanding clause to strip away Charter rights.
“We must defend the right of every transgender person, especially every transgender child, to live, thrive and be free,” he said in conclusion.
‘Cowardly exhibition’: Kinew
All NDP MLAs, and the two independent and Liberal MLAs, stood and applauded the speech, along with seven of the 16 Conservative MLAs present.
The remaining Conservatives, including Khan, remained seated, a livestream of the legislature’s proceedings showed.
On Friday, Prime Minister Wab Kinew called the Conservatives’ actions a “cowardly exhibition.”
He specifically targeted Khan for refusing to acknowledge Oxenham’s statement.
“He comes here and pats himself on the back, ‘first elected Muslim MLA’, but when does it come time to honor a different community? No, they draw the line. Why?” Kinew said of the opposition leader during question period.
“What a strange worldview on the PC side, where it’s human rights for some, but not human rights for all.”
The Prime Minister later argued that the Conservatives have a pattern of hateful behavior against the trans community.
He cited the party’s 2023 election promise to expand parental rights, which Kinew called “anti-trans,” and the four conservative MLAs who broke with the caucus in 2024 and voted against a bill to establish a Transgender and Two-Spirit Day of Visibility.
“He’s not a leader, he’s a fanatic,” Kinew said Friday of the Conservative leader.
Attempt to ‘divide Manitobans’: Khan
Khan later said the NDP was trying to score political points with its statement.
In the speech there was no reference to members of the transgender community who were in the legislative gallery, nor a request for a moment of silence to recognize those who lost their lives, he said.
“It was a very politically motivated statement by a member committed to dividing Manitobans. That’s why I didn’t applaud it or defend it,” he said.
Khan did not comment on the use of the notwithstanding clause in Alberta, saying it is not his province.
He also said Kinew’s position is unclear on the exception clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which allows legislation that overrides some sections of the Charter for a period of five years.
Although Kinew has criticized the clause, He also said he stood with other prime ministers who denounced a recent Supreme Court ruling. on child pornography and demanded that the clause be invoked to overturn the decision.
Khan added that he is not surprised that the Prime Minister accused him of bigotry, something he strongly denied, although he felt the Speaker should have called the language “unparliamentary”.
