No re-election bid for Wowchuk
Cites health issues for stepping down
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/07/2011 (5219 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
DEPUTY premier Rosann Wowchuk, one of the NDP’s most prominent faces, won’t seek re-election Oct. 4.
Wowchuk said Monday it’s a decision she wrestled with for weeks–she had already been nominated as the candidate for Swan River — but only recently decided she won’t run because of personal health issues.
“I had intended to be in for the long haul, but some personal issues have come up in my life and as a result it would be better for someone else to seek the nomination,” Wowchuk, the minister of finance who is also responsible for Manitoba Hydro, said Monday.
“There are some personal health issues that I have to deal with,” she added. “It’s not major, but it could interfere with my time on the campaign trail.”
Wowchuk, who turns 66 next month, would not disclose the nature of the health matter.
“I’m fine. There are a couple little issues that I have to deal with. I’ve had to make a really tough decision because I really like what I do. I like my job, but sometimes things happen.”
Wowchuk was first elected in 1990 and re-elected in the 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2007 general elections. When the NDP formed government in 1999, she was appointed minister of agriculture, the first woman to hold that portfolio in Canada’s history. In 2009, Premier Greg Selinger named her minister of finance, the first woman to hold that position in Manitoba’s history.
Wowchuk has had some rocky moments as finance minister, the most notable being a year ago when she failed to rise as her name was called during a vote on the government’s budget implementation bill. The Opposition charged she missed the vote because she was on her BlackBerry.
Wowchuk said she plans on spending time with her family and continuing her activism and advocacy in her community.
“It’s a tough decision to make and I had to really struggle with it,” she said. “I thought I could do it, but my family is home and we talked it over and we thought, well, maybe I should take a little time.”
She said two people have stepped up to replace her as the NDP candidate for Swan River. A nomination meeting is scheduled July 28.
“It’ll be 21 years in September,” Wowchuk said of her time as an MLA. “I thought I could take it to 25, but that was not to be.”
bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca