Tories nominate heavy-hitter to take on premier

Calling this an uphill battle is an understatement, says U of M professor

Ken Waddell, former Mayor of Neepawa and owner of two newspapers, is the Progressive Conservative Party candidate for the Concordia riding in the next provincial election.

His nomination was uncontested and on Jan. 17 his acclamation was made official at Kildonan East Collegiate.

He will seek election in a riding currently held by Premier Gary Doer, who got 77 per cent of the popular vote in 2003.

“To call it an uphill battle I think is an understatement,” said Paul Thomas, Duff Roblin Professor of Government at the University of Manitoba, adding “it’s rare that a premier gets in trouble in his own riding.”

“Maybe the acclamation is a reflection on the fact that there aren’t many people who would want to spend any of their own money to try and beat Gary Doer,” Thomas said.

Since 2002, Waddell, owner of the Neepawa Banner and the Rivers Banner, has tried for four nominations or elections – the 2002 Neepawa mayoral race, Dauphin-Swan River’s 2004 federal Tory nomination, 2006’s provincial Tory leadership race, and in November the Ste. Rose du Lac nomination – but lost them all.

He was, however, elected Mayor of Neepawa in 1998.

Now the 58-year-old from Holland, Man., is confident he can defeat the New Democratic Party in a riding they’ve held since 1981, the year the riding was created.

His record is not one of “bad luck, it’s all good experience,” he said.

“This time around I am very very encouraged by it. I have some very definite purposes in being in Concordia.”

“My past experiences have all been good experiences. They’ve been solid,” he added, “and if people say that you lose an election and that’s a bad thing, it didn’t turn out to be a bad thing in the days of Abraham Lincoln or John Diefenbaker,” who had slow starts to their political careers with Diefenbaker unsuccessful in five elections.

Waddell said he will focus on three issues: the usual “law and order,” programs aimed at helping families – like tax credits – and improving the community’s infrastructure.

Concordia is nestled between St. Boniface, Elmwood, Rossmere and Radisson.

A 1999 census found it to have an average family income of $39,613 with a population of more than 20,000, 16 per cent of whom are immigrants, and 12,711 of whom are registered voters.

Thomas, who grew up in the Kildonans, reckons the election will be closer than 2003’s, when the NDP took 49.2 per cent of the vote and the PCs got 36.9 per cent, but he doesn’t think the NDP will lose their Concordia seat.

But Waddell sees something different.

“When you take the number of people who didn’t vote, with 53 and a half per cent of people who didn’t even vote in the last election, I think there’s a lot of dissent out there that can be harnessed into a strong Conservative showing in that riding,” he said.