Manitoba NDPers ask caucus to sign ‘pledge of solidarity’

WINNIPEG – Two members of Manitoba’s strife-torn NDP government are inviting their fellow MLAs to sign a “pledge of solidarity.”

It’s a further sign of the divisions that remain in the province’s ruling party after a bitterly fought leadership contest.

READ MORE: Selinger short on answers to unite party

St. Norbert MLA Dave Gaudreau and Wolseley MLA Rob Altemeyer asked NDP caucus members to sign the pledge starting Tuesday afternoon at the legislature.

“I believe the time has come for all Manitoba New Democrats to unite behind our premier,” the preamble to the pledge says, and that “leaking confidential information to the media is a betrayal of our party, our caucus and the causes we fight for.”

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Selinger’s leadership of the NDP was challenged late last year by five ministers who later quit his cabinet. The party held a leadership vote March 8, when Selinger beat challenger Theresa Oswald — one of the rebel five ministers — on the second ballot by only 33 votes.

READ MORE: Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger back at work after clinging to job

Since then the former rebels remain on the outside of the NDP caucus looking in, unable to attend meetings of government MLAs or participate in decisions.

The premier’s office distanced itself from the pledge Tuesday, calling it an “independent initiative of two caucus members.”

“The premier has said repeatedly that he wants everyone back in caucus, working in the same direction, as soon as possible. The reconciliation is moving on the right track and the premier believes in caucus confidentiality,” Selinger spokesman Paul McKie wrote in an email to Global News.

Altemeyer announced plans for the “solidarity pledge” in an Internet post Monday refuting a media report that alleged various difficulties in the NDP caucus “reconciliation process.”