Progressive Conservative Party candidates, 2003 Manitoba provincial election

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.

Larry Maguire (Arthur-Virden)

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

Dennis Wishanski (Assiniboia)

Wishanski was a banker for twenty-five years before starting a graphics design firm with his wife. [Aldo Santin, "NDP in fight for hard-won seat", "Winnipeg Free Press", 24 May 2003, A11.] He supported standardized tests for provincial schools during the 1990s, [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.] and was elected to the St. James-Assiniboia School Board in 1998. In 2001, he supported a theatre construction project at Sturgeon Creek Collegiate. [Nick Martin, "District urged not to force vote on school theatre", "Winnipeg Free Press", 15 November 2001, A12.]

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. ["Wishanski wins Tory nod", "Winnipeg Free Press", 13 September 2002, A13.] 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.

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.

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.

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.

Nansy Marsiglia (Transcona)

Marsiglia has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Manitoba, majoring in Foreign Language and minoring in Psychology. She operated a family business called Torino Tile at the time of the election, and has also worked at an upmarket clothing store for children. [ [http://newwinnipeg.com/news/election2003/r_transcona.htm "Election 2003: Ridings: Transcona] , New Winnipeg, accessed 30 September 2007.] She received 915 votes (14.40%), finishing third against New Democratic Party incumbent Daryl Reid.

Ashley Burner (Wolseley)

Burner received 679 votes (11.09%), finishing fourth against New Democratic Party candidate Rob Altemeyer.

Wyatt McIntyre (Point Douglas)

Wyatt T. McIntyre (born 16 July, 1980 in Valleyview, Alberta) is a Canadian political strategist, author and political activist.

McIntyre was raised in the province of Alberta. He educated in Theology in Wisconsin and History in Calgary, Alberta, and is an active Lutheran. McIntyre's first campaign was for the Calgary Public School Board in 1998, where he lost to Chair Judy Tilston. He was later a candidate of the Alberta First Party for Calgary Fort in the 2001 Alberta provincial election, and finished last in a field of eight candidates with 99 votes. He campaigned for a seat on the Calgary city council later in the same year, and was again defeated.

He later moved to Manitoba, and worked as an assistant to two Members of the Legislative Assembly in that province. He ran as a candidate of the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party in the 2003 Manitoba election, and finished third in the north-end Winnipeg constituency of Point Douglas with 337 votes (8.37%). The winner was George Hickes of the New Democratic Party.

McIntyre currently resides in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is active with the Conservative Party of Canada and Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba.

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