Walt Lastewka
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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|
| In office | |
|---|---|
| 1993 Fed. Election – 2006 Fed. Election | |
| Riding | St. Catharines |
| Preceded by | Ken Atkinson |
| Succeeded by | Rick Dykstra |
| Born | October 11, 1940 Montreal, Quebec |
| Residence | St. Catharines, Ontario |
| Political party | |
| Profession(s) | executive manager, industrial engineer |
| Religion | Ukrainian Catholic |
| Spouse | Carol Lastewka |
Walter Thomas "Walt" Lastewka, PC, MP (born October 11, 1940) is a Canadian politician. He was a member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 2006, representing the Ontario riding of St. Catharines as a member of the Liberal Party.
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[edit] Early life and career
Lastewka was born in Montreal, Quebec and was educated at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto, receiving a degree in 1963. He was hired as an industrial engineer by General Motors in the same year, was promoted to supervisor of industrial engineering in 1967, and held several managerial positions before his retirement in 1992. He continued his education in adult life, completing a University of Western Ontario Executive Program in 1981. Lastewka has been involved in several community activities, including serving as a director of the United Way and a trustee of Brock University. He is also a former director and parish chairman for St. John's Ukrainian Church. In the early 1990s, he was head of the St. Catharines Promotion Task Force.[1]
[edit] Member of Parliament
Lastewka joined the St. Catharines branch of the Liberal Party in 1972, and worked as campaign manager to federal MP Gilbert Parent in every election between 1974 and 1988. He was vice-president of organization for the Ontario Liberal Party from 1979 to 1981, and chaired provincial campaigns for Jim Bradley and Harry Pelissero. He was himself elected to parliament in the 1993 election, defeating incumbent Progressive Conservative Ken Atkinson by a significant margin. St. Catharines is not a safe seat for the Liberal Party, and although Lastewka was re-elected three times, his margin of victory narrowed with each election.
He served as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Industry from 1997 to 1999, and as parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services from 2003 to 2006. Before the 2004 election, he held special responsibility for matters relating to procurement review.
A Hamilton Spectator newspaper report from 1996 described Lastewka as "one of the most hardworking, effective parliamentarians" in office. He spearheaded a movement to clean up the St. Catharines Twelve Mile Creek during his first term, and used his knowledge of government bureaucracy to expedite the city's bid to host the 1999 World Rowing Championships.[2] Lastewka supported Paul Martin's bid to succeed Jean Chrétien as Liberal Party leader during the 1990s, and was one of the first Liberal MPs to call for Chrétien's resignation in 2000.[3]
In 1995, Lastewka petitioned the government for an inquiry into the way crown officials handled the prosecution of Karla Homolka. Homolka, a former resident of St. Catharines, was given a twelve-year sentence through a plea-bargain despite having assisting her husband, Paul Bernardo, in the rape and murder of two young girls. Lastewka argued that the sentence was far too lenient, and called for a review of the negotiation process.[4] He later called for Senator Michel Biron to resign in 2005, after Biron wrote a letter opposing restrictions on Homolka following her release. Lastewka said that he was "appalled" by Biron's letter, and wrote that the Senator displayed "complete and utter disregard for the families of Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy", Homolka's victims.[5] In light of these and other criticisms, Biron offered an apology.
Lastewka holds socially conservative views on some issues, and voted against a 2005 bill that legalized same-sex marriage rights in Canada. More recently, he has argued that the Canadian government should accept the legal status of same-sex marriages and not revisit the issue.[6]
He was narrowly defeated by Conservative Rick Dykstra in the 2006 federal election. The margin of defeat was only 244 votes, one of the smallest in the country.
[edit] Table of offices held
| Preceded by Ken Atkinson |
Member of Parliament for St. Catharines 1993-2006 |
Succeeded by Rick Dykstra |
[edit] Electoral record
| 2006 federal election : St. Catharines edit | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Expenditures | ||
| Conservative | Rick Dykstra | 21,669 | 37.47 | $78,093.76 | ||
| Liberal | (x)Walt Lastewka | 21,423 | 37.05 | $76,408.07 | ||
| New Democratic Party | Jeff Burch | 11,848 | 20.49 | $15,482.42 | ||
| Green | Jim Fannon | 2,305 | 3.99 | $991.15 | ||
| Christian Heritage | Bill Bylsma | 481 | 0.83 | $8,736.24 | ||
| Marxist-Leninist | Elaine Couto | 101 | 0.17 | |||
| Total valid votes | 57,827 | 100.00 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 203 | |||||
| Turnout | 58,030 | 68.30 | ||||
| Electors on the lists | 84,967 | |||||
| 2004 federal election : St. Catharines edit | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Expenditures | ||
| Liberal | (x)Walt Lastewka | 21,277 | 40.44 | $67,606.54 | ||
| Conservative | Leo Bonomi | 18,261 | 34.71 | $76,063.45 | ||
| New Democratic Party | Ted Mouradian | 10,135 | 19.26 | $13,554.17 | ||
| Green | Jim Fannon | 1,927 | 3.66 | $1,145.69 | ||
| Christian Heritage | Linda Klassen | 751 | 1.43 | $15,303.13 | ||
| Canadian Action Party | Jane Elizabeth Paxton | 204 | 0.39 | $0.00 | ||
| Marxist-Leninist | Elaine Couto | 61 | 0.12 | $6.90 | ||
| Total valid votes | 52,616 | 100.00 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 240 | |||||
| Turnout | 52,856 | 62.03 | ||||
| Electors on the lists | 85,209 | |||||
| 2000 federal election : St. Catharines edit | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Expenditures | ||
| Liberal | (x)Walt Lastewka | 20,992 | 44.93 | $48,037.11 | ||
| Canadian Alliance | Randy Taylor Dumont | 15,871 | 33.97 | $65,538.72 | ||
| Progressive Conservative | Ken Atkinson | 6,522 | 13.96 | $20,495.69 | ||
| New Democratic Party | John Bacher | 2,878 | 6.16 | $12,153.96 | ||
| Natural Law | Jim Morris | 203 | 0.43 | $0.00 | ||
| N.A. (Christian Heritage) | Tilly Bylsma | 166 | 0.36 | $4,942.92 | ||
| Marxist-Leninist | Elaine Couto | 93 | 0.20 | $8.00 | ||
| Total valid votes | 46,725 | 100.00 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 223 | |||||
| Turnout | 46,948 | 60.02 | ||||
| Electors on the lists | 78,215 | |||||
| 1997 federal election : St. Catharines edit | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Expenditures | ||
| Liberal | (x)Walt Lastewka | 21,081 | 43.46 | $46,896 | ||
| Reform | Rob Hesp | 15,029 | 30.98 | $41,350 | ||
| Progressive Conservative | Gregg Crealock | 6,503 | 13.41 | $25,799 | ||
| New Democratic Party | Ed Gould | 4,657 | 9.60 | $24,683 | ||
| Christian Heritage | Tristan Emmanuel | 688 | 1.42 | $7,249 | ||
| Canadian Action | Glenn Malcolm | 308 | 0.63 | $2,976 | ||
| Natural Law | Helene Darisse | 245 | 0.51 | $0.00 | ||
| Total valid votes | 48,511 | 100.00 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 272 | |||||
| Turnout | 48,783 | 65.49 | ||||
| Electors on the lists | 74,484 | |||||
| 1993 federal election : St. Catharines edit | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Expenditures | ||
| Liberal | Walt Lastewka | 23,928 | 48.99 | $49,786 | ||
| Reform | Rob Hesp | 14,011 | 28.69 | $31,523 | ||
| Progressive Conservative | (x)Ken Atkinson | 7,448 | 15.25 | $40,187 | ||
| New Democratic Party | Jane Hughes | 2,799 | 5.73 | $10,877 | ||
| Christian Heritage | David W. Bylsma | 568 | 1.16 | $3,349 | ||
| Abolitionist | Kevin Doucet | 86 | 0.18 | $0 | ||
| Total valid votes | 48,840 | 100.00 | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 383 | |||||
| Turnout | 49,223 | 68.44 | ||||
| Electors on the lists | 71,919 | |||||
All electoral information is taken from Elections Canada. Italicized expenditures from elections after 1997 refer to submitted totals, and are presented when the final reviewed totals are not available. Expenditures from 1997 refer to submitted totals.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Agnes Bongers, "Garden City's $3-million ad campaign brings in seven jobs after 18 months", Hamilton Spectator, 10 December 1991, B5.
- ^ Joan Bryden, "Few seals on ship of state", Hamilton Spectator, 26 December 1996, A01.
- ^ William Walker, "Martin secretly prepares campaign", Toronto Star, 16 March 2000, p. 1.
- ^ Rob Andrus, "Hometown petitions fight Homolka deal", Toronto Star, 3 September 1995, A7.
- ^ Grant Robertson, "Tory MP blasts senator over controversial comments", Montreal Gazette, 14 June 2005, A14.
- ^ Canadian Press, "Former NDP candidate in Ont. riding urging residents to vote for Liberals", Canadian Press, 21 December 2005, 20:01 report.
Some biographical information is taken from Lastewka's former online biography, accessed January 2006. The biography has since been removed.
