Progressive Conservative Party candidates, 2003 Manitoba provincial election

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The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba fielded a full slate of 57 candidates in the 2003 provincial election, and won 20 seats to remain as the Official Opposition party in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. Many of the party's candidates have their own biography pages; information about others may be found here.

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[edit] Larry Maguire (Arthur-Virden)

Maguire, the incumbent MLA, was re-elected in a field of three candidates with 4,135 votes (53.81%).

[edit] Dennis Wishanski (Assiniboia)

Wishanski was a banker for twenty-five years before starting a graphics design firm with his wife.[1] He supported standardized tests for provincial schools during the 1990s,[2] and was elected to the St. James-Assiniboia School Board in 1998. In 2001, he supported a theatre construction project at Sturgeon Creek Collegiate.[3]

Wishanski chose not to seek re-election in 2002, in order to campaign for a provincial seat. He defeated Grant Nordman, son of former MLA Ric Nordman, to win the 2003 Progressive Conservative nomination for Assiniboia.[4] In the general election, he received 2,257 votes (27.65%) for a second place finish against New Democratic Party incumbent Jim Rondeau. Wishanski was 55 years old.

Electoral record
Election Division Party Votes % Place Winner
1998 Winnipeg municipal St. James-Assiniboia School Board
Silver Heights-Booth Ward		 n/a 3,476 18.82 3/6 Ron Marshall,
Sandra Paterson-Greene,
and himself
2003 provincial Assiniboia Progressive Conservative 2,257 27.65 2/4 Jim Rondeau, New Democratic Party

[edit] Greg Dinsdale (Brandon East)

Dinsdale comes from a prominent political family in Brandon. His father Walter Dinsdale was a Progressive Conservative member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1951 to 1982, and his grandfather George Dinsdale was a Member of the Legislative Assembly and Mayor of Brandon. Dinsdale is a teacher, and is active with the Manitoba Teachers' Society and the Salvation Army.[5]

Dinsdale first campaigned for the Manitoba legislature in 1995 at age 43, and finished second against veteran legislator Leonard Evans. He served on the Brandon University board during the 1990s, and was vice-chair for a time.[6] He considered running for the Conservative Party nomination in Brandon—Souris for the 2004 federal election, but declined.[7]

Electoral record
Election Division Party Votes % Place Winner
1995 provincial Brandon East Progressive Conservative 2,608 31.91 2/3 Leonard Evans, New Democratic Party
2003 provincial Brandon East Progressive Conservative 2,036 32.64 2/4 Drew Caldwell, New Democratic Party

[edit] Reg Atkinson (Brandon West)

Atkinson, a former Mayor of Brandon, received 2,982 votes (34.93%) for a second-place finish against New Democratic Party incumbent Scott Smith.

[edit] Derek Lambert (Burrows)

Lambert was a youth delegate to the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba's 2001 convention. He voted against the party's "one member, one vote" system for deciding a leader, expressing concern that the party could be hijacked.[8] He received 423 votes (7.29%) in 2003, finishing third against New Democratic Party of Manitoba incumbent Doug Martindale.

[edit] Virginia Larsson (Rossmere)

A social conservative, Larsson was an opponent of same-sex marriage and a member of REAL Women. She finished second with 2,296 votes, against 5,057 for Harry Schellenberg of the New Democratic Party.

[edit] E. Ray Garnett (St. Johns)

In 2002, the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper published a story about a Winnipeg] resident named Ray Garnett, who was pressuring the province of Manitoba to change its laws to allow him to sue a doctor he believed had ruined his life through a misdiagnosis. Garnett was diagnosed in 1989 with kidney failure, which he believed was the result of having taken the drug lithium for twenty years. The Minister of Justice at the time was Gord Mackintosh, who expressed reluctance to intervene until existing legal avenues had been tried (Winnipeg Free Press, 7 December 2002). It may be reasonable to assume this was the same person as the candidate.

Garnett received 612 votes (10.49%), finishing third against Mackintosh, the incumbent candidate for the New Democratic Party.

[edit] Jason Shaw (Swan River)

Shaw lists himself as an investment advisor, and has campaigned for public office on two occasions. He sought the Canadian Alliance nomination for Brandon—Souris in the 2000 federal election, but lost to Gary Nestibo (Winnipeg Free Press, 22 October 2000). He subsequently won the party's nomination for the northern riding of Churchill, and finished third.

Electoral record
Election Division Party Votes % Place Winner
2000 federal Churchill Canadian Alliance 4,126 17.70 3/4 Bev Desjarlais, New Democratic Party
2003 provincial Swan River Progressive Conservative 2,223 2/3 Rosann Wowchuk, New Democratic Party

[edit] Ashley Burner (Wolseley)

Burner was a young candidate in the 2003 campaign. She received 679 votes (11.09%), finishing fourth against New Democratic Party candidate Rob Altemeyer. A 2006 newspaper article lists her as twenty-four year old. She is a financial firm marketer, and a board member of The Young Associates of the I. H. Asper School of Business for 2006-07.[9] She worked on Hugh McFadyen's campaign to become Progressive Conservative leader in 2006, and is seeking the party's River Heights nomination for the next provincial election.[10]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Aldo Santin, "NDP in fight for hard-won seat", Winnipeg Free Press, 24 May 2003, A11.
  2. ^ Nick Martin, "Parents debate merits of testing", Winnipeg Free Press, 30 November 1997, A4; Nick Martin, "Little support for test boycott", Winnipeg Free Press, 27 May 1998, A4.
  3. ^ Nick Martin, "District urged not to force vote on school theatre", Winnipeg Free Press, 15 November 2001, A12.
  4. ^ "Wishanski wins Tory nod", Winnipeg Free Press, 13 September 2002, A13.
  5. ^ Glen MacKenzie, "Election signs sprout", Winnipeg Free Press, 28 January 1995.
  6. ^ "MANITOBA GOVERNMENT: Caldwell appoints members to Brandon University board", M2 Presswire, 8 November 1999.
  7. ^ Mia Rabson, "MLA Tweed set to try jumping to federal politics", Winnipeg Free Press, 6 February 2004, A6.
  8. ^ Helen Fallding, "Grassroots will choose new top Tory", Winnipeg Free Press, 18 November 2001, A3.
  9. ^ Gabrielle Giroday, "Young people join mayor's brainstorming", Winnipeg Free Press, 19 April 2006, B4; Karen Wade, "Manitoba movers", Winnipeg Free Press, 6 November 2006, B7.
  10. ^ "Murray's old seat likely to remain empty", Winnipeg Free Press, 20 September 2006 [web extra].
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