Prime Ministerial power and provincial popularity were put under the microscope on the latest episode of Inside Politics, but the sharpest exchange wasn’t about slogans or campaigns — it was about money: how governments spend it, how politicians earn it, and why taxpayers keep footing the bill.

Host Kevin Klein was joined by Winnipeg Sun columnists Lawrence Pinsky, KC, and political science professor Royce Koop to unpack a new Fraser Institute report ranking premiers on fiscal performance. The study, authored by the institute’s director of fiscal studies Jake Fuss, measured provincial leaders on government spending, taxes and debt. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith ranked first, Ontario Premier Doug Ford placed second — and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew came dead last with an overall score of just 10.9%, a number that stunned the panel.

Koop said Manitoba’s poor ranking was driven by rapid program spending increases and weak performance on debt and deficits, warning that governments can’t “spend and spend” forever without consequences. Pinsky agreed, arguing poor fiscal policy eventually leads to higher taxes, fewer services, or both — and Manitobans are already feeling the squeeze through inflation and strained public services.

Klein pushed the conversation deeper, arguing fiscal recklessness is fueled by a political culture that rewards short-term vote buying. Premiers, he said, think only in four-year election cycles, spending taxpayer dollars to look like heroes while ignoring long-term consequences. That led to a broader debate: what politicians are paid, and whether they deserve annual raises while Canadians struggle.

Klein noted that federal MPs are set to make more than $210,000 annually after April 1, with raises that continue even during economic hardship, while many Canadians face rising food costs and growing reliance on food banks. “How do you take that raise,” he asked, “and then tell people you need cuts?”

Pinsky argued public office comes with real personal costs and that competitive pay helps attract qualified candidates — but suggested raises could be redirected to charities in tough times. Koop raised the idea of tying political pay to performance metrics such as balanced budgets, a concept Klein embraced, arguing taxpayers should not reward failure.

The episode ended with Klein inviting viewers to weigh in: do politicians make too much — and should their pay be linked to results?

Ottawa is selling a “tough on crime” comeback — but the Inside Politics panel says Bill C-16 may be little more than a glossy brochure wrapped around a loophole.

Host Kevin Klein sat down with Winnipeg Sun columnists Lawrence Pinsky, KC, and political science professor Royce Koop to unpack the Liberal government’s latest promise: bring back mandatory minimum sentences and finally clamp down on repeat offenders.

Koop didn’t mince words. Mandatory minimums were created because Canadians were fed up with “slap on the wrist” sentencing and judges using wide discretion. But after years of court rulings striking down minimums as “cruel and unusual,” the Liberals’ answer isn’t real backbone — it’s what Koop called mandatory minimums without the mandatory part.

In other words: a “minimum” sentence that a judge can simply decline to apply.

Pinsky went further, warning that the legal test has drifted into a subjective mess. Courts have used “cruel and unusual” reasoning to erase minimum penalties — including, he noted, a mandatory one-year sentence for child pornography offences. Bill C-16, he argued, lowers the bar even more: judges wouldn’t even need to find a sentence “cruel.” They can just declare it “not appropriate.”

Klein, who has long pushed for real accountability in public safety policy, linked the debate back to what Manitobans see on the ground: repeat offenders released, re-arrested, then released again — including the terrifying case of a sex offender entering a Winnipeg school and targeting a child. “What are you doing to fix it?” Klein demanded, blasting political “tough talk” that never becomes real consequences.

To be fair, the panel acknowledged Bill C-16 does contain provisions dealing with coercive control and domestic violence, and measures that could increase penalties when violence is driven by hatred or intimate-partner abuse. But the core Liberal sales pitch — “we’re getting tough” — doesn’t survive close reading, they argued.

Koop summed it up: public safety requires peace and order first, and repeat violent offenders must face real consequences. Pinsky’s verdict was blunt: the Liberals may claim law-and-order credibility — but Bill C-16, as written, won’t deliver it.

And Canadians are tired of being sold slogans while crime keeps climbing.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s much-hyped pipeline breakthrough and the embarrassing behaviour of Manitoba MLAs shared the spotlight on the latest episode of Inside Politics with Kevin Klein—and neither came out looking good.

Klein, joined by Winnipeg Sun columnists Lawrence Pinsky, KC and Royce Koop, opened by giving Carney rare credit for his recent moves on the steel sector and a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on a proposed pipeline to the West Coast. But the panel quickly stripped away the spin.

Koop called the deal a clear political shift from the Trudeau era and acknowledged that regulatory carve-outs for Alberta could help spur development. Still, he warned viewers not to confuse an MOU with an actual project: no binding commitments, no shovels, no tankers—just a political framework that still faces resistance from First Nations, British Columbia Premier David Eby, Quebec politicians and investors who’ve been burned before.

Pinsky went further, branding the MOU “political, not economic,” and likening it to Schrödinger’s cat without the possibility it exists at all. The only firm change, he noted, is a higher industrial carbon price in Alberta by 2026, while the supposed path to a pipeline remains vague and revocable. “Don’t mistake this for economic development,” he warned. “It’s a talking point, not a turning point.”

The panel then turned their fire closer to home: the Manitoba Legislature, where Klein said he’d “never been more disappointed” in elected officials. They condemned a recent question period meltdown in which:

• NDP minister Nahanni Fontaine allegedly shared a post celebrating the death of U.S. commentator Charlie Kirk and branded all male PC MLAs “misogynists”;

• Progressive Conservatives responded by dredging up Premier Wab Kinew’s decades-old criminal record, for which he has a pardon;

• The Speaker himself got drawn into the mud, reportedly telling a Tory MLA he was “not clever” before later apologizing.

Koop defended the idea of question period but said Manitoba now has “probably the worst atmosphere in Canada,” arguing that the Premier sets the tone and that Kinew has chosen confrontation over seriousness. Pinsky called the exchanges “schoolyard stupidity” at a time when Manitobans are dying in ER waiting rooms and the economy is faltering.

Klein’s closing verdict on Canada’s political class—federal and provincial—was blunt: too much performance, not enough governing.