Nettie Wiebe

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Nettie Wiebe is a Canadian politician, born in 1949. She grew up near Warman, Saskatchewan. She has a BA and MA in Philosophy from the University of Saskatchewan and a Ph.D in Philosophy from the University of Calgary.

Wiebe first became widely known as the Women's President from 1988-1994 and the President and CEO from 1995-1998 of the National Farmers Union. During her term she vocally defended the role of the Canadian Wheat Board in the marketing of prairie grains.

In 2001, Wiebe sought the leadership of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (and by implication, the office of Premier of Saskatchewan, as the party was in government at the time), following the retirement of then premier and party leader Roy Romanow. For the first time in Saskatchewan, the NDP utilized One Member One Vote as its means of selecting a leader rather than a delegated leadership convention. Wiebe ran on the most explicitly left-wing platform of the major contenders, and placed third behind Chris Axworthy and the eventual winner, Lorne Calvert.

Wiebe chose not to run for a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan in the subsequent 2003 provincial election. However, she did run, unsuccessfully, as the federal New Democratic Party candidate in the 2004 federal election in the riding of Saskatoon—Humboldt, against Conservative candidate Brad Trost, Liberal candidate Patrick Wolfe, and incumbent independent Jim Pankiw.

In what was the closest 4-way race in the country, Wiebe placed second, with only 417 fewer votes than the winner, Brad Trost, and only 18 more votes than Wolfe (the third place candidate).

In the 2006 Canadian Federal Election, Wiebe ran as the NDP candidate in the riding of Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar. Wiebe lost to incumbent Conservative, Carol Skelton.

Wiebe is currently a professor of church and society at St. Andrew's College in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

[edit] External links

• Nettie Wiebe bio on the St. Andrew's College, University of Saskatchewan website.
• National Farmers Union website