Ken Waddell

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Ken Waddell (born March 29, 1948) is a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was the Mayor of Neepawa from 1998 to 2002, and sought the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba in 2006. He has also campaigned for the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.

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[edit] Publisher and mayor

Waddell was born in Holland, Manitoba, and was raised in that community. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture from the University of Manitoba (1970). He moved to Neepawa in 1971, and worked as an agriculture representative for the provincial government. He later became a farmer and auctioneer.[1] He began publication of the Neepawa Banner newspaper in 1989, and also owns the Rivers Banner in the nearby community of Rivers.[2] He was a regional director of the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce in 1998-99.[3]

Waddel has been a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba since 1982, apart from a stint as Manitoba director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation from 1997 to 2002.[4] He was narrowly elected as Mayor of Neepawa in the 1998 municipal election.

During the buildup to the 1999 provincial election, Waddell wrote an editorial piece criticizing the provincial New Democratic Party's liberal perspectives on abortion and gay rights. Among others things, he asserted that the NDP would "promote the gay lifestyle in schools, but [...] ignore the problems that this gross misrepresentation yields". The editorial was widely circulated during the campaign; some have speculated that it led the NDP to temper its support for gay rights to prevent a loss of rural support. When questioned about the editorial in 2001, Waddell said that he never expected it to have an impact on the election. He commented that NDP leader Gary Doer had done a surprisingly good job as Premier of Manitoba since 1999, though he was also quoted as saying "God did not make any homosexuals".[5]

Waddell served as president of the board for Manitoba Smart Network in this period, and worked to expand high-speed internet services in small-town Manitoba.[6] He ran for re-election as mayor in 2002, but was defeated. In 2004, he was appointed to a two-year term as a director of the Manitoba Community Newspapers Association.[7]

Waddell supported the Canadian Alliance at the federal level in the early 2000s, and joined the successor Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. He unsuccessfully sought the party's nomination for Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette in the 2004 federal election.[8]

[edit] Leadership candidate

Waddell ran for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba in 2006, following the resignation of Stuart Murray. He was 58 years old. Regarded as a long-shot candidate, he argued that the party should focus on rural issues and present a non-socialist alternative to the governing NDP.[9] He rejected being labeled as a social conservative, although he said that he would focus his campaign on "family values".[10] He also wrote a Winnipeg Free Press editorial during the campaign, entitled "It's time to get off socialist highway".[11]

Many Progressive Conservatives admired Waddell's speaking abilities, but believed that his ideological views would be unacceptable to urban and some rural voters.[12] He did not win any high-profile endorsements. He received 1,099 votes at the party's convention, about 12% of those cast.[13]

[edit] Candidate for the legislature

Waddell sought the Progressive Conservative nomination for Ste. Rose in the 2007 provincial election, but lost to Stu Briese.[14] He later won the party's nomination for the northeast Winnipeg division of Concordia, where he ran another long-shot campaign against NDP Premier Gary Doer. He was convincingly defeated. His wife Christine Waddell and son Mike Waddell were also Progressive Conservative candidates in this election.

[edit] External links

[edit] Tables of offices held

Preceded by
Roy McGillivray		 Mayor of Neepawa
1998—2002		 Succeeded by
Robert Durston

[edit] Electoral record

2007 Manitoba provincial election : Concordia edit
Party Candidate Votes % +/- Expenditures
     New Democratic Party (x)Gary Doer 3,862 69.05 -7.62 $14,144.95
     Progressive Conservative Ken Waddell 1,209 21.62 +5.51 $15,745.09
     Liberal Leslie Worthington 336 6.01 -1.21 $340.30
     Green Andrew Basham 186 3.33 $216.88
Total valid votes 5,593 100.00
Rejected and declined votes 28
Turnout 5,621 47.42 +0.92
Electors on the lists 11,853


2002 Neepawa municipal election, Mayoredit
Candidate Total votes  % of total votes
Robert Durston 949 63.78
(x)Ken Waddell 539 36.22
Total valid votes 1,488 100.00


1998 Neepawa municipal election, Mayoredit
Candidate Total votes  % of total votes
Ken Waddell 743 50.96
Robert Durston 715 49.04
Total valid votes 1,458 100.00

All provincial electoral information is taken from Elections Manitoba. Provincial expenditures refer to candidate expenses. Italicized expenditures refer to submitted totals, and are presented when the final reviewed totals are not available. Municipal results are taken from the Winnipeg Free Press, 29 October 1998, A13 and 28 October 2002, A10.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Mia Rabson, "Tory 1, Tory 2 or Tory 3?", Winnipeg Free Press, 17 April 2006, A1.
  2. ^ Paul Samyn, "Mission? To boldly snip hair", Winnipeg Free Press, 27 March 1994; Bud Robertson, "Publisher eyes life on other side", Winnipeg Free Press, 10 October 1998, A6.
  3. ^ Steve Pona, "Manitoba movers", Winnipeg Free Press, 17 June 1998, B7.
  4. ^ "Concordia: 2007 candidates", Winnipeg Free Press Online, accessed 13 September 2007. The CTF is officially non-partisan.
  5. ^ Helen Fallding, "Why NDP lags on gay adoptions", Winnipeg Free Press, 25 June 2001, A4.
  6. ^ Linda Rosborough, "Building bridges", Winnipeg Free Press, 26 June 2001, B3.
  7. ^ Karen Wade, "Manitoba movers", Winnipeg Free Press, 3 May 2004, D7.
  8. ^ Mia Rabson, "And papa makes three", Winnipeg Free Press, 5 January 2007, accessed 19 October 2007.
  9. ^ "Publisher to vie for Tory leadership", Winnipeg Free Press, 25 February 2006, A6; Steve Lambert, "Former mayor becomes third candidate for Manitoba Conservative leadership", Canadian Press, 27 February 2006, 16:30.
  10. ^ "Publisher enters Manitoba Tory race", Globe and Mail, 28 February 2006, A11' Michelle MacAfee, "Manitoba Tory leadership hopefuls make final pitch to party faithful", Canadian Press, 28 April 2006, 22:05. When delivering his speech to the convention, Waddell made the following statement: "Yes, I've been called a social conservative. If that means that I don't think same-sex marriage is a good idea, and I have the privilege to believe that, and I don't think that abortion is a good idea, especially if adoptions are available in place of it, and I don't think euthanasia is a good thing - then please call me a social conservative."
  11. ^ Ken Waddell, "It's time to get off socialist highway", Winnipeg Free Press, 30 March 2006, A14.
  12. ^ Mia Rabson, "Tory 1, Tory 2 or Tory 3?", Winnipeg Free Press, 17 April 2006, A1.
  13. ^ Mia Rabson, "Tories crown McFadyen chief", Winnipeg Free Press, 30 April 2006, A1.
  14. ^ Steve Lyons, "Briese elected to run for Tories in Ste. Rose", Winnipeg Free Press, Web Extra, 24 November 2006.