Manitoba Liberals, NDP accuse Saskatchewan conservative group of election interference

Manitoba Liberals and New Democrats say a series of attack ads launched by a Regina-based political action committee with ties to Saskatchewan conservatives amounts to interference in the upcoming election in this province.

Both parties accuse Manitoba Progressive Conservatives of colluding with the extraprovincial group, while the NDP has filed two complaints with Elections Manitoba over what it claims are violations of rules governing third-party advertising.

The Canada Growth Council, a non-profit political action committee formed in 2019 to campaign against federal Liberal candidates, has taken out billboards in Winnipeg featuring Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew, federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"Can't afford these two? Imagine adding Kinew," reads the billboard ad.

The Canada Growth Council is also behind a mass-message campaign that sent images of attack ads as well as text messages to Manitoba phone numbers this week.

The ads compare Kinew's policies to those of Singh and Trudeau, claiming Kinew would distribute "free heroin and hard drugs for criminals" if elected Manitoba's premier on Oct. 3 and would also defund the police.

The text messages refer to Kinew as "a convicted criminal" and state the NDP leader is "in an alliance" with Singh and Trudeau.

"We can't afford four years of their woke policies that will lead to more crime, higher taxes and the NDP driving our economy into the ground ... just like last time!" reads the text messages. "We can't trust Wab, Justin and Jagmeet to run our province."

Adrien Sala, the NDP MLA for St. James, called the ads disgusting and accused Manitoba PCs of working with the Canada Growth Council.

Current and past directors of the political action committee include former Saskatchewan Party officials, according to corporate records.

"Manitobans want free open and fair elections. Instead, what we're seeing is this big-money, third-party, out-of-province organization spending thousands and thousands of dollars on billboards and advertisements and they appear to be doing that illegally in partnership with the [Progressive] Conservative Party of Manitoba," Sala said Thursday in an interview.

CBC News reached out to the Canada Growth Council through the number provided in its text message but did not hear back. CBC News also left messages for company director Dale Richardson, a former Saskatchewan Party communications director, via phone, email and Twitter direct message.

Neither Manitoba's PC caucus nor the party itself are involved with the Canada Growth Council, PC caucus spokesperson Cameron Eason said in a statement.

Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said she too has no knowledge of any interaction between the PCs and the Canada Growth Council.