WINNIPEG — Manitoba's ethics commissioner has cleared Premier Wab Kinew of any wrongdoing after he accepted and paid for private travel with Winnipeg's professional football team to go to two Grey Cup games.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers invited Kinew on a private charter to the 2023 Grey Cup game in Hamilton and the following year to the football finals in Vancouver. The Bombers were playing both years.
The Opposition Progressive Conservatives called for an investigation into the trips, saying accepting flights through a private charter goes against the province's Conflict of Interest Act.
The investigation found that Kinew paid $1,100 to travel with the football club for the Hamilton game and $650 for the Vancouver game. These were the same costs other passengers on the plane were charged.
Jeffrey Schnoor, the province's ethics commissioner, said in his ruling on Wednesday a portion of the law is complex, but that Kinew did not contravene the act because the premier paid the same as other guests for his seats on the flights.
"I have found that Premier Kinew paid fair market value for his flights and therefore I find that he did not 'accept travel' within the meaning of the act," Schnoor wrote.
The law, which came into force in October 2023, states that a house member must receive approval from the commissioner before accepting travel on non-commercial chartered or private aircraft or disclose publicly soon after, and that alternative travel must be considered.
Schnoor said that this portion of the law only applies to private air travel where fair market value was not paid.
"Members who pay fair market value for travel on non-commercial chartered and private aircraft are not required to disclose that travel under...the act," he wrote.
Kinew apologized in March after the Tories called for an investigation saying he did not believe he had to report the trips because he paid out of pocket for them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 27, 2025.
The Canadian Press
