Ex-NDP MLA reflects on state of politics

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This article was published 21/06/2018 (2128 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After serving as a Manitoba NDP MLA for 13 years, a disillusioned Bidhu Jha is no longer a party member, and laments its leadership at both the provincial and federal level. Now 75, he and his wife are leaving Winnipeg, their home for nearly 50 years, to be closer to their children in Toronto.

On his way out, Jha wanted to talk about character — from former NDP MLA Stan Struthers, accused of unwanted touching by several women he worked with, to Winnipeg Coun. Russ Wyatt, who recently spoke up about his addiction and treatment, and sexual orientation.

“I think politicians have to understand you’re a role model,” said Jha, who represented the eastern Winnipeg riding of Radisson until 2016.

“Most MLAs in the legislature are of good character and wonderful people,” he said, mentioning Tory MLAs such as Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen and Premier Brian Pallister. (“He is not a monster.”)

“When I entered politics, I was inspired by (former NDP leader) Tommy Douglas, and thought, ‘It’s not too late to change the world.’”

Once elected, Jha said he saw first-hand how hard it is to do that.

The former industrial engineer visited “broken” houses badly in need of repair on First Nations in northern Manitoba, where young people were taking their own lives. The immigrant from India said he saw a part of his beloved Canada he didn’t recognize. “Is this my country?”

Attempts to address the problems would always get bogged down by federal-provincial jurisdictional conflicts, he said. As a backbencher, he didn’t wield much power, but he contributed when and where he could, he said, including efforts to attract business investors from India to Manitoba.

In 2015, after an unprecedented revolt by NDP cabinet ministers dubbed the “Gang of Five,” who challenged the leadership of then-premier Greg Selinger, Jha supported failed leadership candidate Steve Ashton. At the party convention, Selinger won enough votes to remain leader, narrowly besting Theresa Oswald on the second ballot.

Later that year, Jha announced that after three terms, he would not seek re-election.

Jha said he has no problem with provincial NDP Leader Wab Kinew having a troubled past and owning up to it, but he worries about Kinew’s more recent denials of domestic abuse, which are alleged to have occurred in 2003. The charges — which were stayed by the Crown in 2004 — involved Kinew’s former common-law partner, who shared her story with reporters last year.

Jha is also troubled by NDP leadership at the federal level. He said Jagmeet Singh is a good person, but he worries about Singh not calling out religious extremists. In an interview after the 2017 NDP leadership convention, Singh failed to denounce the glorification of Talwinder Singh Parmar in posters displayed outside Sikh temples and other public places.

Parmar is widely seen as the mastermind behind the 1985 Air India Flight 182 bombing that killed 329 people, the majority of which were Canadians of Indian descent. In March, Singh condemned “all acts of terrorism,” but Jha said that’s not enough.

“I see so many who are below average… who are elected by drama, by acting, by lying, and by fooling people.”– former MLA Bidhu Jha 

Locally, the news multiple women had come forward alleging they were inappropriately touched by Struthers, who didn’t seek re-election in 2016, left Jha “shocked,” he said.

“I’m an average guy, but I want my other colleagues to at least feel that it is not all right for you to tickle and make sexual advances to somebody and say, ‘It’s OK.’ Shame on you. Quit. Quit right away. Go and do something else,” said Jha, who admits he’s become cynical about people running for elected office.

“I see so many who are below average… who are elected by drama, by acting, by lying and by fooling people.”

The one Winnipeg politician who inspired hope in Jha — Transcona councillor Wyatt — announced on Thursday he would not run in the next civic election. Wyatt’s strength of character in admitting and addressing his addiction and opening up about his sexual orientation was refreshingly honest, Jha said.

“My hat’s off to him,” he said, hours before Wyatt revealed he wouldn’t seek a fifth term. “He’s a true symbol of real character.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca