A respected cabinet minister has defended her embattled leader and accused the NDP and media of trying to embarrass Premier Heather Stefanson.
In a lengthy message on Facebook Tuesday, Eileen Clarke — whose resignation from the Indigenous and northern affairs portfolio last summer led to Brian Pallister to step down as premier — praised Indigenous women who protested outside of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs headquarters Monday for standing up for the alleged victims of suspended grand chief Arlen Dumas.
Clarke, who is the minister for municipal affairs, stood up for her premier. She praised Stefanson for being kind and accused NDP Leader Wab Kinew of trying to “humiliate and tear down” the premier for her response to his question about the death of Indigenous patient Krystal Mousseau in May 2021.
Kinew posed the question in the legislative chamber last week. Stefanson responded by praising her son’s hockey victory. That interaction went viral on social media and was widely seen as callous and inappropriate. She later apologized for the timing of her response but said she’d never apologize for praising her children’s achievements.
On several occasions since then, Kinew has asked the premier about the handling of Mousseau’s case, and to call an inquiry into her death, as well as the province’s pandemic response.
Clarke weighed in on Facebook.
“I have sat in our political chamber for the past two weeks listening to the leader of the official Opposition trying to humiliate and tear down our premier for words she spoke when answering a question in our daily question period” Clarke wrote.
The media “has had a great time with this and made it public many times over in an effort to discredit her and humiliate her in the public,” she said in her Facebook message — which she gave political staff permission to post on Twitter with the hashtag #mbpoli.