McGifford thankful for ‘uncannily good’ career

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This article was published 23/02/2011 (5636 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One of Manitoba’s longest-serving MLAs is looking forward to trading the political arena for grandma time, gardening gloves and a word processor.

Diane McGifford — MLA for Lord Roberts and minister of advanced education — recently announced she will not be seeking re-election in this year’s provincial election.  

“I’m of retirement age and I’ve had an uncannily good political run to date,” McGifford said.  

“My daughter, a lawyer, is returning to work, so I’m looking forward to spending more time with my granddaughter. I also have a lily garden, so I’ll spend more time cultivating that, and I’m considering some writing projects.”

McGifford was born in Manchester, England in 1945 and moved to Manitoba at a young age. She spent time as a public school teacher and is also a published scholar, writer and editor.    

McGifford was first elected to public office in 1995 as the MLA for Osborne.

In 1999, she was elected in the newly formed constituency of Lord Roberts and was then appointed minister of culture, heritage and tourism in Gary Doer’s NDP government. In 2001, McGifford became minister of advanced education and in 2006 took on the literacy portfolio as well.

Reflecting on her political tenure, McGifford ranks her work developing the Bright Futures initiative and the graduate scholarship program among her proudest achievements.

“And based on all the support I had, helping to get the University College of the North up and running was also very satisfying,” she said.

McGifford said the greatest challenges she’s faced in office are the demands of political life.

“These are long hours and anything can happen, so you do make sacrifices in your personal life,” she said, adding it’s been “wonderful” representing Lord Roberts.

McGifford said her best campaign worker over the years has been her dog, Virginia.

“Every time I walk her, it’s the perfect opportunity to get out and talk to people,” she said.

One local political expert said McGifford will leave a respectable legacy when she hangs up the political boxing gloves.

“She’s quite well respected. She can come across as stern, but she’s also described as a ‘British Warm’ because she’s really not like that,” said Christopher Adams, vice-president of Probe Research in Winnipeg.

“When you look at Lord Roberts, she’s balanced the needs of an interesting riding, because you have elements of downtown mixed with middle-class homeowners. She also had a pretty important portfolio in the provincial government, when you consider how much of [Gary] Doer’s policy was linked to education and training,” noted Adams, who is also an adjunct professor at the University of Winnipeg’s department of politics.

“You only have to look at the developments at Red River College and the University of Manitoba to know she’s had a fairly good place in government,” he added.

simon.fuller@canstarnews.com