National Party candidates, 1993 Canadian federal election
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The National Party of Canada ran a number of candidates in the 1993 federal election, none of whom were elected. Information about these candidates may be found here.
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[edit] Alberta
[edit] Lea Russell (Calgary Southwest)
Russell had previously campaigned for the Alberta Liberal Party in the 1986 provincial election. She is a dental hygienist in private life.[1] During the mid-2000s, she began working to provide dental services to Calgary's homeless population.[2]
| Election | Division | Party | Votes | % | Place | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 provincial | Calgary Fish Creek | Liberal | 1,553 | 3/3 | Bill Payne, Progressive Conservative | |
| 1993 federal | Calgary Southwest | National | 910 | 1.34 | 5/9 | Preston Manning, Reform |
[edit] Kathleen McNeil (Calgary West)
McNeil was a twenty-five year old student at Mount Royal College in Calgary during the election (Calgary Herald, 7 October 1993). She received 1,068 votes (1.85%), finishing fifth against Reform Party candidate Stephen Harper.
[edit] Manitoba
[edit] Eldon Obach (Brandon—Souris)
Obach worked in farm equipment sales.[3] He received 336 votes (0.91%), for a sixth-place finish against Liberal candidate Glen McKinnon.
[edit] Shirley Loewen (Winnipeg South)
Loewen is the wife of Bill Loewen, a prominent Winnipeg businessman and former president of the National Party (Globe and Mail, 4 September 1993). She is herself a prominent community figure, having served as school board chairman in the Seine River district of Winnipeg during the 1980s (Globe and Mail, 5 July 1986). The Loewens were named as Winnipeg's arts supporters of the year in May 1993, following significant financial donations to the city's cultural community (Winnipeg Free Press, 27 May 1993).
Shirley Loewen was 56 years old at the time of the election, and campaigned on a platform of preserving social programs and abrogating Canada's Free Trade Agreement with the United States (Winnipeg Free Press, 29 September 1993). She received 2,512 votes (4.80%), finishing fourth against Liberal candidate Reg Alcock.
The National Party split in 1994, and the Loewens led a splinter group that recognized Richard Loeb as party leader. At one stage in this dispute, Shirley Loewen was ejected from a national executive meeting along with two other dissident members (Winnipeg Free Press, 4 March 1994). This split contributed to the party's disintegration later in 1994, despite efforts by the both sides to affect a reconciliation (Winnipeg Free Press, 7 December 1994).
The Loewens continued their philanthropic work after the National Party's collapse. In 1999, they were recognized for preserving Manitoba's French Canadian and Metis heritage (Winnipeg Free Press, 17 May 1999). Shirley Loewen has recently served as president of the St. Norbert Arts Centre. She was at the centre of controversy in 2003 when she laid off all of the centre's employees, chosing to adopt a fee-for-service system with local artists. Loewen defended her decision in a letter to the editor, noting that the centre has historically had a low percentage of public funding (Winnipeg Free Press, 13 December 2003).
She donated $700 to New Democratic Party candidate Judy Wasylycia-Leis's federal campaign in 2004 (Winnipeg Free Press, 13 June 2004).
[edit] Paul Reid (Winnipeg St. James)
Backed by an active Constituancy Association, Reid had a strong showing in the 1993 federal election taking 3.9% of the vote in the St. James riding. Following the election Reid was elected to the National Council of the party as a Member-at-large at a raucous and divisive national convention in Vancouver.
A strong supporter of proper democratic procedure within the party, Reid sided with the majority of the party's Executive when a minority within the National Council sought to take control and oust several members of the Executive and Council. With the resignation of Mel Hurtig, Reid was named Leader of the party. The Leadership and Presidency of the party was contested by the minority group led by Daniel Whetung, after the party's National Council dismissed Whetung from the Presidency for cause. Whetung had, without the knowledge or permission of the Party's National Council or Leader, attempted to change the official records of the Party at Elections Canada. Elections Canada accepted Reid as Leader which resulted in a series of lawsuits by Whetung et al against the Chief Electoral Officer, Reid and William Stephenson the party's President. With Reid and Michael Stebner assisting William Stephenson with preparing the response to the complaint by Whetung, and Stephenson delivering the verbal arguments in the courts, the Whetung challenge failed and the actions of the legitimate Executive were upheld. In an unprecedented move, the Federal Appeals Court in Ottawa delivered its decision in less than seven minutes from the bench. In an open meeting in Toronto Reid gave his primary reason for voting for the dissolution of the party as his discomfort to ask members to fund a party whose primary activity would be defending itself in court.
Reid carried out the wishes of the National Council and formally requested of the Chief Electoral Officer the removal of the party from the federal registry.
[edit] Marnie Johnston (Winnipeg—Transcona)
Johnston was an articling law student. She said that she agreed to run for the National Party to "offer voters an alternative and begin building a base of support in the riding".[4] She received 900 votes (2.18%), finishing fifth against New Democratic Party incumbent Bill Blaikie.
[edit] Ontario
[edit] Chris Papadopoulos (Kingston and the Islands)
Papadopoulos was twenty-seven years old at the time of the election. He was a graduate of Queen's University in Kingston, and was an unemployed teacher (Kingston Whig-Standard, 3 October 1993). He received 1,768 votes (3.08%), finishing fifth against Liberal incumbent Peter Milliken.
In 1997, a Chris Papadopoulos was recognized as a Hero in Education by the Windsor Board of Education (Windsor Star, 21 March 1997). This may have been the same person.
[edit] Stephen A. Biega (Parkdale—High Park)
Biega described himself as a small-business consultant and entrepreneur, said he was running to restore "integrity, openness, accountability and real democracy in government", and spoke of preserving the distinctive community in his riding (Toronto Star, 22 October 1993). He received 1,320 votes (3.21%), finishing fifth against Liberal incumbent Jesse Flis.
[edit] Mario Godlewski (St. Paul's)
Godlewski worked as a teacher at Park Public School in Toronto (Toronto Star, 16 January 1988), and served as vice-president of the Toronto Teachers Federation (Globe and Mail, 26 June 1980). Also a human rights activity, Godlewski called for a national cultural strategy in the 1993 campaign (Toronto Star, 22 October 1993). He received 1,259 votes (2.46%), finishing fifth against Liberal candidate Barry Campbell. Godlewski figured large in the party's lawsuits as a defendant with Reid, Stephenson, et al. However, after filing a counter suit against the Whetung faction Godlewski settled with the Whetung group and both he and the Whetung group withheld that information from the defendants for 2 years.[citation needed]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ "33 Days to go", Calgary Herald, 20 September 1993, A8.
- ^ Calgary Health Trust, "Your Gift At Work", 2004-05, p. 7.
- ^ History of Federal Ridings since 1867 (Brandon—Souris: 1993 election), Parliament of Canada, accessed 19 December 2006.
- ^ Ruth Teichrob, "Disgust at Tories lifts Miki campaign", Winnipeg Free Press, 23 October 1993.
