1998 Winnipeg municipal election

The 1998 Winnipeg municipal election was held on October 28, 1998 to elect a mayor, councillors and school trustees in the city of Winnipeg.

Centre-left candidate Glen Murray defeated populist right-winger Peter Kaufmann in the mayoral contest.

Results

Mayor

1998 Winnipeg municipal election: Mayor of Winnipeg
CandidateVotes%
Glen Murray112,07850.55
Peter Kaufmann101,50945.78
Carlos Rule1,8940.85
Manny Does1,8860.85
Wally Welechenko1,7320.78
Nelson Morrison1,4250.64
Alex Reid1,2000.54
Total valid votes221,724100.00

Councillors

1998 Winnipeg municipal election: Councillor, Elmwood Ward
CandidateVotes%
(x)Lillian Thomas5,72554.34
Ray Brunka3,90737.08
Ed Pilbeam9048.58
Total valid votes10,536100.00
  • Ed Pilbeam is a welder, and was president of the Chalmers Community Club in the 1990s.[1] Pilbeam was 39 years old during the 1998 election, and made tax relief and crime his primary issues.[2]


1998 Winnipeg municipal election: City Councillor, St. Boniface Ward
CandidateVotes%
(x)Dan Vandal11,78963.98
Gerry Duguay4,82526.19
George Provost1,8119.83
Total valid votes18,425100.00
  • Gerald Duguay was 59 years old in 1998, and owned Duguay Pool Services. He first sought election to Winnipeg City Council in 1980 as a candidate of the centre-right Independent Citizens' Election Committee, and finished second against Evelyne Reese in the Langevin ward. In 1998, he argued that property taxes were the primary issue in his ward.[3] After losing the election, he said he felt sorry for St. Boniface residents.[4]


1998 Winnipeg municipal election: Councillor, Transcona Ward
CandidateVotes%
(x)Shirley Timm-Rudolph12,22382.49
Theresa Ducharme2,59417.51
Total valid votes14,817100.00

School trustees

1998 Winnipeg election, St. James-Assiniboia School Board, Silver Heights-Booth Ward (three members elected)
CandidateTotal votes% of total votes
(incumbent)Ron Marshall4,19322.71
(incumbent)Sandra Paterson-Greene3,67819.92
Dennis Wishanski3,47618.82
Robert Wilson2,85715.47
Craig McGregor2,36512.81
Stephen Schultz1,89710.27
Total valid votes18,466100.00

Electors could vote for three candidates. Percentages are determined in relation to the total number of votes.

  • Ron Marshall was a St. James-Assiniboia School Trustee from 1992 to 2006, and chaired the board's finance committee for a time.[5] In 1993, he criticized as inaccurate a University of Manitoba report that suggested Winnipeg residents did not trust the city's public school system.[6] Two years later, he opposed his board's decision to close Jameswood School, saying that its low teacher-student ratio made it the envy of other schools in the city.[7] In 2001, he supported a new theatre project for Sturgeon Creek Collegiate.[8] He retired in 2006.[9] Marshall supported the "consensus approach" of the St. James-Assiniboia board, and said that trustees should avoid partisan politics.[10]
  • Sandra Paterson-Greene first campaigned for a seat on the St. James-Assiniboia School Board in 1986 under the name Sandra Paterson, and was narrowly defeated for the final position. She was elected in 1995, and re-elected in 1998, 2002 and 2006. Paterson-Greene has served as chair of the Assiniboia-St. James board's education and divisional multipurpose committees.[11] In 2001-02, she spearheaded an effort to build a new theatre at Sturgeon Creek Collegiate.[12] The board rejected the proposal in September 2002, by a vote of 6-3.[13] In early 2003, she called on the federal government to toughen its laws against marijuana.[14]
1998 Winnipeg election, Transcona-Springfield School Division, Ward One (three members elected)
CandidateTotal votes% of total votes
(incumbent)Colleen Carswell3,77125.06
(incumbent)Mary Andree3,15320.95
David George2,64617.58
Gerald Basarab2,10513.99
Gary Komadowski1,98313.18
Greg Andrushko1,3909.24
Total valid votes15,048100.00

Electors could vote for three candidates. Percentages are determined in relation to the total number of votes.

  • David George was first elected in 1998, and opposed the contracting out of bus services in 2000.[15] He did not seek re-election in 2002.
1998 Winnipeg election, Transcona-Springfield School Division, Ward One (three members elected)
CandidateTotal votes% of total votes
Jamie Boychuk2,22916.70
(incumbent)Laurie Goodman2,16316.21
(incumbent)Marilyn Lamoureux2,01815.12
(incumbent)George Marshall1,99414.94
Bill Lyons1,78013.34
Jim Way1,2689.50
Tom Halas1,2279.19
Eric Stearns6664.99
Total valid votes13,345100.00

Electors could vote for three candidates. Percentages are determined in relation to the total number of votes.

  • Bill Lyons is a retired city clerk in Winnipeg. He was the city's planning committee clerk for many years, and became the chair of its board of adjustment in 1992. By 2000, he was executive director of the Transcona Business Improvement Zone.[16] He was also a perennial candidate for public office, running for the Transcona ward on city council in 1989 and 1995, and for the Transcona-Springfield School Board in 1986 and 1998. He was defeated each time. Lyons called for a solution to Transcona's flooding problems in 1995, and supported the principle of having fewer managers and more front-line workers at city hall.[17]

References