Jim Walding
24th Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
In office
February 25, 1982  February 11, 1986
PremierHoward Pawley
Preceded byHarry Graham
Succeeded byMyrna Phillips
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for St. Vital
In office
April 5, 1971  April 26, 1988
Preceded byJack Hardy
Succeeded byBob Rose
Personal details
Born(1937-05-09)May 9, 1937
Rushden, England
DiedApril 23, 2007(2007-04-23) (aged 69)
Manitoba, Canada
Political partyNew Democratic Party
ProfessionOptician
Military service
Branch/serviceBritish Army
UnitRoyal Inniskilling Fusiliers

Derek James Walding (May 9, 1937 – April 23, 2007) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1971 to 1988 and served as speaker of the assembly from 1982 to 1986. Walding was a member of the New Democratic Party of Manitoba (NDP). In 1988, he brought down the NDP government of Howard Pawley by voting against his party's budget. That was the first time in Canadian history that a majority government was defeated by a vote of one of its own party members.

Early life and career

Walding was born at Rushden, Northamptonshire, England, and was educated at Wellingborough Grammar School. He spent three years with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, including a stint in West Berlin. He moved to Canada in 1961 and worked in Winnipeg as a dispensing optician and contact lens fitter.[1]

Walding had supported the Labour Party in Britain. In 1963, joined the similar New Democratic Party in Canada and served on the party's provincial executive in the 1960s.[2]

Political career

Walding first ran for the Manitoba legislature in the 1969 provincial election. He initially sought the NDP nomination in the northeastern Winnipeg division of Radisson, but he lost to Harry Shafransky. He was later recruited as the party's candidate for the nearby division of St. Vital, and lost to Progressive Conservative candidate Jack Hardy by only 23 votes.[3]

Hardy resigned from the legislature in February 1971, and Walding was nominated as the NDP candidate for the by-election to succeed him.[4] He was narrowly elected, defeating Liberal candidate Dan Kennedy by 295 votes. The result, along with another by-election win on the same day, gave Premier Edward Schreyer a stable majority government in the provincial legislature. Walding served as a backbench supporter of the Schreyer government and developed a strong reputation for constituency work. He also chaired the private bills committee of the legislature and gave up his practice as an optician.[5]

Walding voted against Schreyer's decision to extend public funding to denominational schools in a free vote of the legislature.[6] He faced a serious challenge from Kennedy in the 1973 election but won by 105 votes.

The New Democrats were defeated in the 1977 provincial election although Walding was personally re-elected with an increased plurality. After Schreyer's appointment as Governor General of Canada in 1979, Walding endorsed Sidney Green in his unsuccessful bid to become interim NDP leader. He later supported Pawley, the successful candidate, at the party's leadership convention.

The NDP returned to government in the 1981 provincial election. Walding was not appointed to cabinet, as some had expected. Instead, Pawley appointed him as speaker of the legislature on February 25, 1982. Over the next four years, his relationship with Pawley became increasingly strained.

In 1983 and 1984, Walding allowed the opposition Progressive Conservatives to stall passage of the Pawley government's re-entrenchment of French-language rights. Initially, the Conservatives refused to enter the chamber to vote on the legislation, and Walding refused to call a vote in their absence. As a result, the division bells were allowed to ring for several hours at the end of each legislative day. When NDP cabinet minister Andy Anstett restricted the amount of time that the bells could ring, the Conservatives boycotted the assembly entirely. Walding still refused to call a vote. On February 21, 1984, he refused a direct request from Pawley to move the legislative agenda forward. The house was eventually prorogued with the issue still unresolved.

Many questioned the validity of Walding's decision. Sidney Green, who had left the NDP by then and also opposed French-language re-entrenchment, still argued that Walding was wrong to give the Conservatives a means to disrupt the legislative process. Walding's actions made him extremely unpopular with some segments of his party. He was challenged for the St. Vital NDP nomination in 1986 by Gerri Unwin and Sig Laser, and he defeated Laser by a single vote on the second ballot.

Walding was re-elected in the general election of 1986 with a reduced majority. The NDP was re-elected with a narrow majority government, and Pawley did not reappoint Walding as speaker.

As a backbencher, Walding spoke out against the Pawley government on several issues. He was particularly opposed to affirmative action legislation, which he regarded as discriminatory.

Walding voted for an opposition amendment to his party's budget on March 8, 1988, despite having assured Finance Minister Eugene Kostyra that he would support it. Earlier in the year, longtime cabinet minister Laurent Desjardins had essentially ceased attending legislative sessions. As a result, Walding's defection toppled the Pawley government. The NDP was roundly defeated in the general election that followed, in which Walding was not a candidate.

Death and legacy

He died at 69 after a short battle with cancer in 2007. He was survived by his wife, Valerie (who passed in 2020), and their children, Andrew, Phillip and Christine.

Ian Stewart has written a book about Walding's political career, Just One Vote: Jim Walding's nomination to constitutional defeat (2009). Stewart argues that Walding's 1986 nomination victory set in motion a series of events that led to the defeat of the Meech Lake Accord on constitutional reform.[7]

Electoral record

1986 Manitoba general election: St. Vital
Party Candidate Votes%±%
New DemocraticJim Walding4,43045.32−7.48
Progressive ConservativePaul Herriot3,87239.62−1.02
LiberalWalter Pederson1,47215.06+8.50
Total valid votes 9,774
Rejected 31
Eligible voters / turnout 13,28573.57%-6.77%
New Democratic hold Swing -3.23
Source: Elections Manitoba[8]
1981 Manitoba general election: St. Vital
Party Candidate Votes%±%
New DemocraticJim Walding5,50452.80+11.18
Progressive ConservativeJohn Robertson4,23640.64+4.69
LiberalGord Patterson6846.56-15.87
Total valid votes 10,424 100.00
Rejected votes 34
Turnout 10,458 80.61
Electors on the lists 12,974
New Democratic hold Swing +3.24
1977 Manitoba general election: St. Vital
Party Candidate Votes%±%
New DemocraticJim Walding3,92441.62+2.37
Progressive ConservativeGil Shaw3,39035.95+13.38
LiberalEddie Coutu2,11522.43−15.75
Total valid votes 9,429 100.00
Rejected votes 18
Turnout 9,447 84.70 −1.14
Electors on the lists 11,154
New Democratic hold Swing -5.50
1973 Manitoba general election: St. Vital
Party Candidate Votes%±%
New DemocraticJim Walding3,87039.25+3.56
LiberalDan Kennedy3,76538.18+9.87
Progressive ConservativeJohn Gee2,22522.57−13.44
Total valid votes 9,860 100.00
Rejected votes 51
Turnout 9,911 85.84
17.80
Electors on the lists 11,546
New Democratic hold Swing -3.15
Manitoba provincial by-election, April 5, 1971: St. Vital
Party Candidate Votes%±%
New DemocraticJim Walding3,37835.94+0.25
LiberalDan Kennedy3,08332.80+4.49
Progressive ConservativeKenneth Pratt2,92531.12−4.89
IndependentSam Bordman130.14
Total valid votes 9,399 100
Rejected and declined ballots 10
Turnout 9,409 83.05 +15.01
Electors on the lists 11,329
New Democratic gain from Progressive Conservative Swing +2.57
1969 Manitoba general election: St. Vital
Party Candidate Votes%±%
Progressive ConservativeJack Hardy2,58736.01
New DemocraticJim Walding2,56435.69
LiberalJoe Stangl2,03428.31
Total valid votes 7,185 100.00
Rejected votes 39
Turnout 7,224 68.04
Electors on the lists 10,617
Progressive Conservative hold Swing

References

  1. Ian Stewart, Just One Vote: Jim Walding's nomination to constitutional defeat, (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press), 2009, p. 27.
  2. Stewart, p. 27.
  3. Stewart, p. 27, 30.
  4. Walding defeated rival candidates Keith Huss and Bill Hutton on the first ballot. Huss had been drafted by Harry Shafransky to challenge Walding, and Hutton had been the NDP candidate for St. Vital in the 1966 provincial election. See Stewart, p. 30.
  5. Stewart, p. 32.
  6. Herb Schultz, A View from the Ledge: An Insider's Look at the Schreyer Years, (Winnipeg: Heartland Associates Inc.), 2006, p. 118.
  7. Ian Stewart, p. 2.
  8. "Historical Summary" (PDF). Retrieved 2018-11-28.

Sources

Lambert, Geoffrey. "Manitoba," Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs, 1988, pp 252–260.

Stewart, Ian. Just One Vote: From Jim Walding's Nomination to Constitutional Defeat (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2009).

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