WINNIPEG – A Progressive Conservative pamphlet before the 2023 Manitoba election campaign that detailed Premier Wab Kinew’s criminal past, along with related comments made by volunteers, did not violate the province’s Elections Act, elections commissioner Bill Bowles has ruled.

A resident in the Riel constituency in Winnipeg filed a complaint about the focus on Kinew’s past, alleging it violated a section of the law that forbids people from knowingly making false statements about a candidate’s character or conduct. In a report issued this week, however, Bowles ruled there was a basis for the material and comments.

“The complainant in this case, and many others, judging from the complaints I have received, found the statements to be offensive and little more than ‘mudslinging,'” Bowles wr

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