Rick Boychuk

Rick Boychuk is a labour leader and former politician in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He served on the Winnipeg City Council from 1989 to 1995, representing the Transcona ward. Boychuk is a member of the New Democratic Party.

Boychuk was born to a working class Ukrainian Canadian family in Transcona. He became a conductor with CN Rail in 1967, at age 20, and continued to hold this position during his time as an elected official. [unbylined article, "Winnipeg Free Press", 29 September 1995, A11.] He first ran for city council in the 1986 municipal election, and lost to George Marshall. He ran again in 1989 as a candidate of the centre-left Winnipeg into the '90s (WIN) coalition, and defeated Marshall by about 450 votes amid a municipal shift to the left.

The number of municipal wards was reduced for the 1992 election, and Boychuk was required to run for re-election against fellow councillor Shirley Timm-Rudolph in an enlarged Transcona division. He was successful, winning by nearly 2,000 votes. This election was marked by undisguised animosity between the candidates: Boychuk had previously accused Timm-Rudolph of having violated conflict-of-interest guidelines, and declined to apologize when she was cleared by a provincial investigation. [Nick Martin, "Grudge match boiling in ward", "Winnipeg Free Press", 28 August 1995, B1.]

Boychuk was an opponent of Sunday shopping in the early 1990s. In 1993, he released the results of a private survey demonstrating that most residents of his ward were against the initiative. [Bill Redekop, "Northeast residents reject open Sundays", "Winnipeg Free Press", 16 July 1993.] He called for a permanent dike and drainage system in 1993, after overland flooding caused extensive damage to parts of his ward. [Dan Lett, "Flooding drowns budget", "Winnipeg Free Press", 19 August 1993; Dan Lett, "Transcona residents weigh dike", "Winnipeg Free Press", 21 August 1993.]

Unlike most WIN councillors, Boychuk initially supported construction of the Charleswood Bridge in the west-end of Winnipeg. In late 1993, however, he argued that municipal spending would be better directed toward infrastructural renewal. He indicated that he still supported the bridge in principle, but favoured a delay in moving forward. [Dan Lett, "Pair might decide link's fate", "Winnipeg Free Press", 3 December 1993.] Like other WIN members, he opposed using municipal funds on a new arena for the Winnipeg Jets hockey team and instead supported efforts to refurbish the existing arena. [Buzz Currie, "Who voted for and against arena proposal", "Winnipeg Free Press", 15 October 1994; Buzz Currie, "Council fragmented on site, financing", "Winnipeg Free Press", 10 December 1994; Nick Martin, "If Spirit fails, city stuck: councillors", "Winnipeg Free Press", 14 June 1995, B4.] In December 1994, he argued in favour of selling the Jets. [Nick Martin, "Dump Jets, WIN urges", "Winnipeg Free Press", 10 December 1994.] Some hockey fans blamed Boychuk and other WIN councillors for precipitating the team's eventually departure from Winnipeg. One fan was arrested in the spring of 1995 for allegedly uttering death threats against Boychuk, and his family was harassed by neighbours on other occasions. [Nick Martin, "Young thugs' strike fear in arena opponents' hearts", "Winnipeg Free Press", 17 May 1995; Jim Carr, "The good and the bad", "Winnipeg Free Press", 18 May 1995.]

In 1994, Boychuk voted in favour of extending benefits to sex-same partners of municipal employees. [Dan Lett, "Same-sex debate stews", "Winnipeg Free Press", 5 July 1994.] He endorsed the principle of campaign finance reform in the same period, arguing that tax credits would encourage more citizens to donate money to their preferred candidates. [Stevens Wild, "City eyes campaign subsidy", "Winnipeg Free Press", 20 August 1994.] In the spring of 1995, he brought forward an unsuccessful motion to introduce an overnight curfew, in a bid to reduce youth crime. [Nick Martin, "Overnight curfew gets put to sleep", "Winnipeg Free Press", 30 May 1995, B2. For differing views on this proposal, see David Sinclair, "Boychuk a rebel without a clue?", "Winnipeg Free Press", 7 June 1995, B1 and J.W. Downey, "Curfew worth a close look", "Winnipeg Free Press", 16 September 1995, A7.]

In 1994, Boychuk criticized the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for its decision not to broadcast a documentary entitled "Freedom had a Price", addressing the internment of Ukrainian Canadians during World War I. He wrote that "this terrible part of our history has been largely overlooked", and suggested that the CBC was failing to live up to its mandate by declining to broadcast the piece. [Rick Boychuk, "Documentary should be aired", "Winnipeg Free Press", 12 June 1994.]

In the buildup to the 1995 municipal election, Boychuk encouraged fellow WIN councillor Glen Murray not to run for mayor on the grounds that an openly gay candidate would not be able to win a city-wide contest. He said that many people in his ward found Murray unacceptable as a candidate, and was quoted as saying "If I was an average working guy on the railway and I didn't know Glen, I wouldn't vote for him because he's gay. That's the way the guys out there feel. [...] He has to wait his time until morality changes." He instead supported the candidacy of Terry Duguid, a left-leaning member of the Liberal Party. [Stevens Wild, "He's gay, so no way: Murray's sexuality prompts Boychuk to back Duguid", "Winnipeg Free Press", 16 June 1995, B1.] Boychuk's comments were widely criticized, including by some in the national media, and some Transcona residents argued that he portrayed their region in a bad light. [Stevens Wild, "Boychuk bashed over gay remarks", "Winnipeg Free Press", 17 June 1995, A15; David Roberts, "Fanning flames over possible bid for mayor", "Globe and Mail", 19 June 1995, A2; Jim Carr, "Candidate for council", "Winnipeg Free Press", 25 June 1995, A6.] Murray himself offered a qualified defence of Boychuk's remarks, saying "I think he said it innocently and out of concern. Rick is a very open person. He's not self-censoring. Other people have the same biases but put it in more sophisticated language." [Lindor Reynolds, "It is to laugh - or maybe to cry", "Winnipeg Free Press", 20 June 1995, B1.] On another occasion, Murray described the substance of Boychuk's advice as "baseless". [Nick Martin, "Murray won't run for mayor", "Winnipeg Free Press", 29 June 1995, B1.] Despite the criticism, Boychuk declined to apologize for his remarks. [Nick Martin, "Mayoral run by Murray risky, WIN warned", "Winnipeg Free Press", 22 June 1995.] Murray did not run for mayor in 1995, but was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2002.

Boychuk was defeated by Shirley Timm-Rudolph in the 1995 municipal election, in a rematch from 1992. ["Women figure in upsets", "Winnipeg Free Press", 26 October 1995, A4.] He was subsequently chosen as president of the United Transportation Union Local 1874 in Winnipeg. Boychuk led an informational picket of CN Rail workers in August 2001, arguing that CN's decision to cut back the number of inspection workers was creating a danger to employees and the public. He lamented what he described as an "Americanization" of rail services, and argued that the federal government should return to its role of regulating Canadian rail safety standards. [Scott Edmonds, "Workers protest `Americanization' of CN", "Toronto Star", 10 August 2001, E9; Melissa Leong, "CN Rail denies safety at risk", "Winnipeg Free Press", 10 August 2001, A10.]

Boychuk's former assistant, Russ Wyatt, was elected to Winnipeg City Council in 2002. [Carol Sanders, "Transcona win sends message: new councillor", "Winnipeg Free Press", 24 October 2002, A10.] Boychuk endorsed Bill Blaikie's bid to lead the national New Democratic Party in 2002-03. ["Coast to Coast support for Bill", Bill Blaikie campaign document, 2003.]

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