Ken Waddell

Infobox_Politician


name = Ken Waddell
small| caption =
birth_date = March 29, 1948
birth_place = Holland, Manitoba
residence =
office1 = Mayor of Neepawa
term_start1 = 1998
term_end1 = 2002
predecessor1 = Roy McGillivray
successor1 = Robert Durston

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 sought election to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.

Publisher and mayor

Waddell was born and raised in Holland, Manitoba, and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture from the University of Manitoba (1970). He moved to Neepawa in 1971, and was an agriculture representative for the provincial government until becoming a farmer and auctioneer. [Mia Rabson, "Tory 1, Tory 2 or Tory 3?", "Winnipeg Free Press", 17 April 2006, A1.] He began publication of the "Neepawa Banner" newspaper in 1989, and also owns the "Rivers Banner" in the nearby community of Rivers. [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.] He was a regional director of the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce in 1998-99. [Steve Pona, "Manitoba movers", "Winnipeg Free Press", 17 June 1998, B7.]

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. [ [http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/election/concordia/index.html "Concordia: 2007 candidates"] , Winnipeg Free Press Online, accessed 13 September 2007. The CTF is officially non-partisan.] 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 wrote 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, and 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 also remarked that NDP leader Gary Doer had done a surprisingly good job as Premier of Manitoba since the election. [Helen Fallding, "Why NDP lags on gay adoptions", "Winnipeg Free Press", 25 June 2001, A4. During this interview, Waddell was also quoted as saying "God did not make any homosexuals".]

Waddell served as president of the Manitoba Smart Network in this period, and worked to expand high-speed internet services in small-town Manitoba. [Linda Rosborough, "Building bridges", "Winnipeg Free Press", 26 June 2001, B3.] 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. [Karen Wade, "Manitoba movers", "Winnipeg Free Press", 3 May 2004, D7.]

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. [ [http://www.winnipegfreepress2.com/blogs/rabson/?p=20 Mia Rabson, "And papa makes three"] , "Winnipeg Free Press", 5 January 2007, accessed 19 October 2007.]

Leadership candidate

Waddell ran for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba in 2006, following the resignation of Stuart Murray. 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. ["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.] He rejected being labeled as a social conservative, although he said that he would focus his campaign on "family values". ["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."] He also wrote a "Winnipeg Free Press" editorial during the campaign, entitled "It's time to get off socialist highway". [Ken Waddell, "It's time to get off socialist highway", "Winnipeg Free Press", 30 March 2006, A14.]

Many Progressive Conservatives admired Waddell's speaking abilities, but believed that his ideological views would be unacceptable to urban and some rural voters. [Mia Rabson, "Tory 1, Tory 2 or Tory 3?", "Winnipeg Free Press", 17 April 2006, A1.] He did not win any high-profile endorsements. He received 1,099 votes at the party's convention, about 12% of those cast. [Mia Rabson, "Tories crown McFadyen chief", "Winnipeg Free Press", 30 April 2006, A1.]

Candidate for the legislature

Waddell sought the Progressive Conservative nomination for Ste. Rose in the 2007 provincial election, but lost to Stu Briese. [Steve Lyons, "Briese elected to run for Tories in Ste. Rose", "Winnipeg Free Press", Web Extra, 24 November 2006.] 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.

Waddell criticized Henry Morgentaler's appointment to the Order of Canada in July 2008. [ [http://www.kenwaddell.ca/?p=97 Ken Waddell, "Order of Canada award raises objections", www.kenwaddell.ca, accessed 6 August 2008.] Despite his social conservatism on other matters, Waddell does not support the death penalty. [Ken Waddell, "Outrage could generate positive action" [blog posting] , KenWaddell.ca, 7 August 2008, accessed 4 October 2008.]

External links

* [http://www.kenwaddell.ca/ Ken Waddell's blog]
* [http://www.kenwaddell.ca/index.php?page_id=2 Personal biography]

Electoral record

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.

Footnotes