Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, wearing a suit and tie, stopped to help change a woman’s tire on the side of a dirt road Saturday and a photo of his effort is garnering significant traction online.
The image, taken by Tasha Spillett and uploaded by her aunt, is now making its rounds on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Reddit. As of Monday afternoon, the Facebook post had more than 700,000 views and the Reddit post had been upvoted more than 1,000 times.
“It’s kind of funny to me because I took that picture actually just to show my husband that help had arrived,” Spillett told Global News, adding that she did not expect it would get this much attention.
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Spillet was coming home from her late father-in-law’s funeral in Little Saskatchewan when the car started making strange noises. Spillett, with her mother and young daughter in the car, pulled off the highway onto a side road just past Saint Laurent to find a flat tire.
Panicking, she called her husband who then contacted his friend, Premier Wab Kinew, who had also attended the funeral. Spillett said she was relieved when Kinew finally pulled over to change the flat. It didn’t take long before Spillett and her family were back on the road.
“It was what any decent Manitoban would do – help somebody out… Just wanted to help her out and make sure she got home safely,” Kinew told Global News.
Leonard Sumner, Spillett’s husband, said losing his father was hard enough, and the car troubles his wife was experiencing just added stress to an already grim weekend. He’s grateful the premier stopped to pitch in.
“I’m very happy that Wab was there … and was ready to put the work in on the side of the road.” Sumner said.
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