St. James’ incomparable Al Mackling

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/12/2017 (3078 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Local politician Alvin Mackling was born on Dec. 31, 1927 and grew up in East St. James.

Al attended United College and the University of Manitoba. He married Patricia Ono in 1956 and they have two children, Holly and Thomas. In 1958, he graduated from the University of Manitoba law school and later practised law with Alter and Saul Cherniack.

In 1953, Mackling ran for the CCF in the provincial riding of Assiniboia and was narrowly defeated by incumbent Liberal Reg Wightman. Between 1957 and 1962, he was defeated in four elections.

In 1961, Mackling was elected as a St. James alderman. During his eight years in that role, St. James prospered. The St. James Civic Centre, and Grace Hospital were built.

In 1969, Al beat PC incumbent Doug Stanes by 966 votes to become NDP MLA for St. James, and he soon became attorney general in the government of Premier Ed Schreyer. During his tenure, he helped establish the Manitoba Human Rights Commission, the provincial ombudsman’s office, the Manitoba rentalsman’s office (now the residential tenancies branch), and Legal Aid Manitoba. He also helped draft the first Manitoba Public Insurance Act.

The first Schreyer government decided to amalgamate the 12 municipalities of Greater Winnipeg into one entity known as the City of Winnipeg, and there was a very negative reaction in St. James. The effect of was felt in the 1973 provincial election, in which there was a record 83 per cent turnout in St. James.  Despite earning 467 more votes than he had in ’69, Al was defeated by Progressive Conservative candidate George Minaker.

In 1981, Mackling made a political comeback, defeating Minaker. In February 1982, he became natural resources minister with the responsibility of representing Manitoba interests in the Garrison Diversion project.

He was re-elected in the 1986 election but the Pawley government was defeated in the Legislature and Al chose not to contest the 1988 election, which was won by Gary Filmon’s PCs.

In 2011, Mackling ran for the federal NDP in Provencher, where he earned 7,051 votes and finished second to Vic Toews.

Al remains active  in politics and a keen student of history. He attended the recent 50th anniversary of the St. James Civic Centre and the 30th Anniversary of the Sod Turning at Betelstadur.

Happy 90th birthday, Al!

Fred Morris is a community correspondent for St. James. Reach him at fredmorris@hotmail.com