Manitoba cabinet minister Obby Khan accuses NDP Leader Wab Kinew of shoving, swearing at him

Manitoba cabinet minister Obby Khan accused Opposition NDP Leader Wab Kinew of swearing at him and shoving him at a public event inside the legislature Thursday, saying it left him shaken.

Kinew denied the accusation, saying there was only a "tense verbal exchange."

Kinew and Khan agreed that words were exchanged ata ceremony marking Turban Day, a commemoration of Sikh and Punjabi cultures.

The NDP hosted the event and had a party banner as a backdrop. Khan,the Progressive Conservative minister for sport, culture and heritage,told the ceremony there should have been PC and Liberal banners as well, because the issue was non-partisan.

The two men shook hands, but theiraccounts of what happened after thatdiffer.

"The leader of the Opposition pulled me in and said, 'You piece of s-. How dare you politicize this f-ing event. What you did is f-ing wrong,"' Khan, the minister for sport, culture and heritage, told the legislature chamber later in the afternoon.

"I'm emotionally shaken by this. I wasn't expecting that intimidation attempts, insulting language and when we left the handshake, there was a shove in the stomach."

WATCH | Khanaccuses Kinew of inappropriate behaviour (WARNING: contains offensive language):

Obby Khan's statement on Wab Kinew's comments

1 year ago

Duration 2:13

Part of the statement made during question period by Obby Khan, Manitoba's minister of sport, culture and heritage, regarding remarks allegedly made by NDP Leader Wab Kinew at a Turban Day ceremony earlier in the day. Warning: Video contains offensive language.

Khan, a former Canadian Football League player who stands six feet four inches tall, said he expected physical conflict on the field but not at the legislature.

He raised the matter in the chamber as a matter of privilege an issue where a politician's ability to perform their job is interfered with. He asked that it be referred to a legislature committee.

Speaker Myrna Driedger said she would make her decision at a later date.

Kinew said the NDP banner was in place because the party organized the event but welcomed people from other parties. He said there was no abusive behaviour during the exchange with Khan.

"I said, 'You should not have said these partisan things.' [Khan]comes back at me and he says, 'You have no class,"' Kinew said.

"My colleague [NDP MLA Mintu Sandhu]was beginning to speak, and so I turned and said we should listen," Kinew continued.

"At no time was there any swearing. At no time was there any name calling. And the interaction was of words exchanged, albeit tensely, over a handshake."

Public will decide who to believe: U of M prof

Royce Koop, a professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba, described the day's events as "remarkable" but not in a good way.

"Today was a low point in the tone of politics in this province," he told CBC.

While it's normal for politicians to occasionally clash over ideas, Koop said the personal tone of Khan and Kinew'sdisagreement iswhat made the disputedifferent, and thatthe emotions of both men could be heard in their voices afterwards.

"No one wants to see this in public life this kind of personal conflict between politicians. We want politicians to set an example and it does not seem to have been that today."

Regardless of the eventual consequences within the legislature, Koopsaid what matters most about Thursday's dispute is its potential effectonpublic opinion. With an election six months away, he said the stakes are particularly high for the NDP leader, who has faced criticism in the past about his conduct before entering politics.

"If I was Wab Kinew, I'd be very careful about anything that might reinforce some of those criticisms and some of those attacks that might be coming in the future election campaign."

Because Kinew and Khan have put forward two different versions of Thursday's events, Koop said it will be up to the people of Manitoba to decide which one to believe.

"The parties and the leaders can ... put some effort into trying to spin this, but people are going to see the video for themselves, they're going to come to their own conclusions about what they think actually happened," he said.

A few accusations of aggressive behaviour have been made in the legislature in recent years.

Kinew apologized in 2018 after he confronted Steven Fletcher, then a Progressive Conservative MLA, for talking while another politician was speaking. Kinew was accused of telling Fletcher to keep his mouth shut but admitted only to using forceful language.

Last year, New Democrat Bernadette Smith said Tory Blaine Pedersen smacked the back of her chair and made her feel unsafe. Tory House leader Kelvin Goertzen said Pedersen simply tapped Smith's chair in an attempt to get her attention. Pedersen apologized.