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![\"Kevin](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4535307_web1_260903-Klein-00269.jpg\")
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Kevin Klein registers for the mayoral race at City Hall on Thursday. (Mikaela MacKenzie \/ Free Press)<\/p>\n
None of this is particularly surprising.<\/p>\n
Klein worked for Nygard for a few months in 2012 and another couple of weeks in 2014. Nygard was eventually convicted of multiple counts of sexual assault and is now in prison.<\/p>\n
Klein has said repeatedly that he had no idea about Nygard\u2019s criminal behaviour when he worked for him.<\/p>\n
There is no independent evidence that proves Klein knew what Nygard was doing. There is also no independent evidence that can prove he didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
And there probably never will be.<\/p>\n
That leaves voters with a choice: believe Klein\u2019s explanation or don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
But there is another question worth asking as this campaign gets underway: What happens if this remains the principal line of attack against him?<\/p>\n
Because this isn\u2019t the first time voters have heard this.<\/p>\n
The Nygard issue was raised when Klein ran for mayor in 2022. And it was raised repeatedly when he was a provincial MLA. Now it\u2019s being raised again as he launches another mayoral campaign, even though there\u2019s nothing new to the story.<\/p>\n
The danger for Klein\u2019s opponents is that repeating the same accusation over and over, without any new evidence, could backfire on them.<\/p>\n
Klein is understandably angry about the attacks. He is now suggesting he could take legal action against Gillingham over what he calls a \u201csmear campaign\u201d based on lies and \u201cconspiracy theories.\u201d<\/p>\n
That seems unlikely to go very far.<\/p>\n
Politics is a rough business. Political opponents take swipes at one another. Sometimes those swipes are unfair. Sometimes they are nasty.<\/p>\n
But the courts aren\u2019t supposed to referee every ugly political exchange.<\/p>\n
That job generally belongs to the court of public opinion.<\/p>\n
And the court of public opinion can have a funny way of punishing politicians who overplay their hand.<\/p>\n
Premier Wab Kinew\u2019s criminal past comes to mind.<\/p>\n
For years, the Progressive Conservative party has reminded voters about Kinew\u2019s criminal convictions before he entered politics. It was, at first, a legitimate part of his biography and certainly something voters were entitled to know about.<\/p>\n
But the Tories and others kept hammering away at it for years. And eventually, the attacks began to have the opposite effect, especially during the 2023 provincial election.<\/p>\n
Instead of making Kinew\u2019s criminal past the central issue of the election, the Tories\u2019 fixation on it (as well as other toxic political messaging) became the issue.<\/p>\n
Voters had heard it before. And they heard it again and again and at some point, people began wondering whether the opposition had anything else to say.<\/p>\n
The backlash became part of the story.<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t mean Klein should be immune from scrutiny. His record as a city councillor should be examined. His record as a provincial cabinet minister should be examined. His policy positions, judgment and political associations should all be fair game.<\/p>\n
That includes his time working for Nygard.<\/p>\n
But there is a difference between asking legitimate questions about someone\u2019s past and repeatedly implying an association with a disgraced individual somehow proves complicity in that person\u2019s crimes.<\/p>\n
Klein worked for Nygard. That is a fact.<\/p>\n
What Klein knew about Nygard\u2019s behaviour at the time is not established by the evidence we have publicly.<\/p>\n
If Gillingham and his supporters want to make Nygard the defining issue of this campaign, they are entitled to do so. But they should understand the risks.<\/p>\n
Attack politics in Canadian elections has its limits. Just ask federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, whose incessant personal attacks against his opponents not only contributed to his loss in the 2025 election, it continues to hurt him and his party.<\/p>\n
The same thing can happen at the municipal level. The more voters hear an old accusation without new evidence, the less attention they pay to it \u2014 and the more attention they pay to the person repeating it.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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Klein is the underdog in this race, mainly because it\u2019s extremely difficult to unseat an incumbent mayor in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n
If he wants to win, the former provincial cabinet minister will have to convince voters he\u2019s the better choice for mayor. He has to explain his record. He has to withstand scrutiny over the positions he\u2019s taken in the past.<\/p>\n
But if his opponents make Nygard their favourite subject throughout the entire campaign, they should be careful what they wish for.<\/p>\n
It could, over time, have the opposite effect of what they intended.<\/p>\n
tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Tom Brodbeck Tom Brodbeck is an award-winning author and columnist with over 30 years experience in print media. He joined the Free Press in 2019. Born and raised in Montreal, Tom graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and commerce. Read more about Tom<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tom provides commentary and analysis on political and related issues at the municipal, provincial and federal level. His columns are built on research and coverage of local events. The Free Press\u2019s editing team reviews Tom\u2019s columns before they are posted online or published in print \u2013 part of the Free Press\u2019s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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