Wishart aiming for return to office

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This article was published 12/08/2019 (2488 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ian Wishart, 65, is running in his third election to represent Portage la Prairie as MLA.

Wishart was first elected in the spring of 2011 — right at the height of the flood that severely impacted farm and pasture land in the Portage area.

“It was an interesting year for this area. We had tons of flood claims,” he said, adding that a few claims were still coming in four years later.

Wishart was born in Winnipeg, but grew up on his family’s farm near Portage. He attended country school and graduated from Portage Collegiate Institute. He earned a degree in agriculture from the University of Manitoba.

Rather than returning directly to full-time farming, he worked as a provincial agricultural representative in the Morden-Winkler area for four years.

“I learned a lot there,” Wishart said.

He began farming again in 1980 and kept on until 2008. Over the years he served on agricultural organizations including the Keystone Agricultural Producers and Canadian Federation of Agriculture.

“I was a lobbyist,” he said, adding this gave him experience dealing with provincial and federal politicians.

After his election in 2011, Wishart held the positions of Opposition critic for Conservation and Family Services. He recently spent two years as Minister of Education and Training, overseeing the province’s current commission on K to 12 education.

No NDP, Liberal Party or Green Party candidates had been nominated at press time.