Martindale walked line between Church and State

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This article was published 08/06/2011 (5403 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was no joke earlier when Burrows MLA Doug Martindale announced his retirement from provincial politics earlier this year on April Fool’s Day.

“That’s the day I wanted to announce it,” he said, laughing.

Humour is one of the primary reasons why Martindale has been able to walk a very fine line  — the one the separates church and state — for the past 21 years as the MLA for Burrows. First elected in 1991, Martindale has been an ordained United Church minister since 1976.

“I’ve been lucky in that both my personal and spiritual direction has aligned with my politics,” he said. “I’ve had no crisis or conscience or thought.”

With the fifth and final session of the 39th Manitoba legislature scheduled to wrap up June 16, Martindale acknowledged he can’t help but think back about his time in office.

One of his best memories is how the people of the North End rallied in the mid 1990s to protest the removal of recreation services from the area.

“When services started to leave, people and community groups came together. We’ve been working on turning this around ever since,” he said.

Martindale said the addition of facilities such as the Win Gardner Wellness Centre, North Centennial Recreation Centre and the nearly completed renovations to the Sinclair Community Centre have helped rejuvenate the North End.

“In 1999 we were the first level of government to commit money to recreation in the North End and soon after other governments followed suit,” he said.

Sisler High School principal George Heshka said Martindale was involved in the community long before he entered the political ring.

Heshka has been the principal at Sisler since 1980 and was the principal of Dufferin School when he first met Martindale more than 30 years ago.

“Housing issues, poverty issues and railway relocation were all things on the minds of the community in the late ’70s,” Heshka said.

Rob Neufeld, executive director at the North End Community Renewal Corp., said Martindale’s early role as Housing and Family Services critic of the Progressive Conservative government in 1990, was key in bringing about early housing renewal efforts in the North End.

“Knowing that he would return your phone call is a great feeling,” Neufeld said.

Heshka said one of the things that distinguished Martindale as an MLA was his ability to listen to others.

“This translated into him being a truly excellent constituency man,” he said, adding Martindale enthusiastically advocated for disadvantaged youth to have equal access to a quality education.

“He was great at giving kids another kick at the education can and getting them another kind of access to it.

Education will continue to be a priority for Martindale once he vacates his office at the provincial legislature on Oct. 4. He plans to teach a class on politics and religion at Booth College in the fall.

“I’ll be combining my first and second careers into a third one.”

rob.brown@canstarnews.com