Dan Vandal
Encyclopedia
Daniel 'Dan' Vandal is a politician in Winnipeg
, Manitoba
, Canada
. He has represented St. Boniface on the Winnipeg City Council
for all but two years since 1995, and ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Winnipeg in 2004. He briefly served as acting mayor of Winnipeg following Glen Murray's resignation.
family in Winnipeg, the youngest of eight children. His family identified as French Canadian
during his youth, and he only became aware of his Métis heritage in later life. He has two children of his own, Jenna and Jerome.
Vandal dropped out of high school
, and was a manual labourer for part of his teenage years. He started boxing
at age 15, turned professional in 1978, and was the #1 ranked Canadian middleweight in 1983. The following year, he fought Alex Hilton
for the Canadian title in front of 18,000 fans at the Montreal Forum
. He later credited boxing for turning his life around, and has opposed efforts to ban the sport.
Vandal subsequently became a youth worker at Winnipeg's Mamawiwichiitata Centre, and received a degree in Social Work from the University of Manitoba
. He was vice-president of the Old St. Boniface Residents Association in the 1990s, and campaigned against the proposed construction of a stadium for Sam Katz
's Winnipeg Goldeyes
baseball
team in Whittier Park.
Vandal was elected to the Winnipeg City Council
in the 1995 municipal election
, winning an upset victory over incumbent councillor Evelyne Reese
in the St. Boniface Ward. He was associated with the left-leaning Winnipeg in the '90s (WIN) group, which also included councillors Glen Murray and Lillian Thomas
. In 1996, Vandal and Murray served on an ad hoc social services committee that held a series of public hearings on federal and provincial welfare cuts. He later saved the Pointe Hebert neighborhood in his ward from being turned into parkland, and was chosen to sit on the city's newly-formed property and development committee in November 1997.
Vandal was a frequent opponent of Mayor Susan Thompson
during his first term, and voted against several of Thompson's major initiatives. He opposed a 2% salary rollback for municipal employees in 1996, and later opposed the dissolution of the Winnipeg Housing Rehabilitation Corporation, which provided public housing. In 1997, he voted against a proposal to allow Sam Katz to build a new baseball stadium for the Goldeyes on a city-owned site at The Forks. Vandal's position was that the project was not financially viable, and that Katz would later return to the city for more money. The initiative nonetheless passed, and CanWest Global Park
opened in 1999.
n February 1997, Vandal introduced a motion to create a municipal aboriginal affairs committee that would address issues of crime prevention and health. He later represented Winnipeg on an aboriginal subcommittee of the Manitoba Round Table on Environment and Economy.
Murray administration
The WIN organization was dissolved after the 1995 election. Vandal was re-elected in the 1998 municipal election
as an independent with support from the Winnipeg Labour Council
and the New Democratic Party
, of which he was a member at the time. Glen Murray was elected Mayor of Winnipeg in this campaign, and appointed Vandal to his executive policy committee (i.e. the municipal cabinet) as chair of the protection and community services committee, which oversees Winnipeg's police, fire and hospital services. Vandal also led a task force charged with improving francophone services in the city, and was one of three council representatives on the board of Winnipeg Enterprises Corp.
Murray's administration was often at odds with Gary Doer
's provincial government in early 2000 over Winnipeg's ambulance services. Murray and Vandal argued that the city's share of the cost, about $2.5 million per year, should be assumed by the province. Doer initially disagreed, and the issue was unresolved for several months. In July 2000, the city and the province announced a deal with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority to provide five new ambulances and thirty new paramedics, with a ceiling on municipal costs. Vandal said that he was very pleased with the outcome.
Vandal promoted a plan to turn over some police responsibilities to civilian control in 1999, both to reduce costs and to free up more officers for front-line duty. He later supported a plan to introduce photo radar to catch speeding drivers, and endorsed a 2000 report that called for three fire stations to be closed to provide increased funding for paramedic services. Vandal argued that overall fire services would not be affected, as a smaller number of stations could oversee the city. Later in the year, he announced $445,000 in new money to combat a growing problem of arson
.
Murray shuffled the executive policy committee on October 30, 2000, and moved Vandal to the chairmanship of Winnipeg's property and development committee. Soon after his appointment, he helped bring about the demolition of an abandoned Canada Packers site in his ward. The site had been regarded as an eyesore for many years, and was a frequent target for arsonists.
Vandal was chair of the property and development committee when Wal-Mart
announced that it had found suitable land for a new establishment in north Winnipeg. This came two years after the company lost a political battle to construct a store in a separate area of the same neighbourhood. Vandal argued that this announcement validated council's decision to reject the initial application, which he said would have cost the city an extra $20 million.
Vandal was again endorsed by the Winnipeg Labour Council for the 2002 municipal election
. No challengers came forward, and Vandal was returned to council by acclamation. Glen Murray was elected to a second term as mayor, and Vandal was kept as chair of the property and development committee after the election. In 2003, he helped oversee the beginnings of a new subdivision in Waverley West
.
Vandal said that he wanted to make aboriginal issues the top priority of his third term in office, and was subsequently the primary author of a 15-point strategy to combat poverty among Winnipeg's aboriginal community. The strategy was highlighted by a plan to create urban reserves, and to provide increased municipal support for aboriginal ventures. The final version of the Municipal Aboriginal Pathways strategy was officially unveiled in September 2003.
Vandal believed that St. Boniface could be developed as a vibrant French Quarter for Winnipeg, and supported tax credits as a means of encouraging this outcome. He also supported a plan to increase the area's population, arguing that this would bring about improvements in other fields.
Vandal was the only member of Murray's cabinet to support a compromise with local anti-poverty groups to remove the most contentious aspects of an anti-panhandling by-law in 1999. He supported funding for downtown festivals as a means of boosting tourism, and helped approve $200,000 to this end in 2000. He was the first cabinet member to favour a total indoor smoking ban in public places, and supported Winnipeg's landmark smoking ban in 2002.
In May 2002, Vandal represented the mayor and council for the raising of a gay pride
flag at city hall. He said that he hoped the flag would encourage a spirit of tolerance.
There were rumours that Vandal would run as a candidate of the Liberal Party of Canada
in a federal by-election
in St. Boniface in 2002, but he declined to pursue the option. He later took part in a major Winnipeg protest against the 2003 invasion of Iraq
.
Vandal was promoted to Deputy Mayor of Winnipeg in a November 2003 cabinet shuffle, while remaining chair of the property and development committee and receiving additional responsibility for implementing the city's aboriginal strategy. Many pundits saw this as evidence that Murray was preparing Vandal to become his successor as mayor. In 2004, Vandal indicated his support for Prime Minister
Paul Martin
's plan to divert a portion of Canada's Goods and Services Tax
revenue to municipal infrastructure.
In late 2003, Vandal requested that hockey legend and franchise owner Mario Lemieux
consider bringing the Pittsburgh Penguins
to Winnipeg. This was considered to be a longshot offer, and was not successful. Vandal later indicated that Winnipeg was contacted by a "Sun Belt" hockey franchise that was considering a move to Winnipeg, although this too never came to fruition. It was later revealed that the team in question was the Tampa Bay Lightning
.
In late April 2004, Vandal was appointed to a steering committee on the development of Manitoba's capital region.
. Vandal served as acting mayor until May 14, when he resigned his St. Boniface seat to officially seek election as Murray's successor. He appointed Jae Eadie
to the position of deputy mayor before resigning, which meant that Eadie served as acting mayor during the campaign.
Vandal ran on his record of accomplishment in Glen Murray's administration, while indicating that he would run the city in a different style. He promised $4.4 million annually in new spending, a downtown housing tax credit and productivity reinvestment tax credit, doubling the city's arts funding, and the creation of a new municipal holiday to celebrate the city's heritage. His campaign launch was introduced by Tina Keeper
, and his supporters included John Angus, Jenny Gerbasi
, Lillian Thomas
and Mary Richard
, as well as the Winnipeg Labour Council
and local anti-poverty activists. Despite a strong start, his campaign was hurt by the late entry of MaryAnn Mihychuk
, whose candidacy split the centre-left vote. Some argued that Vandal also had difficulty presenting himself as a strong leader. He ultimately finished second against Sam Katz.
Shortly after the election, Vandal was hired by the province to administer a $75 million urban development agreement for Winnipeg's inner city. He later became a project officer with the aboriginal affairs committee of the provincial cabinet.
over incumbent Franco Magnifico
, who had taken the seat after Vandal stepped down in 2004. The contest was expected to be close, but Vandal won by a significant margin. By this time, he once again identified as a member of the New Democratic Party. Sam Katz was re-elected as mayor.
Vandal was appointed to the Winnipeg Housing Steering Committee in March 2007, and also sits on the property and planning committee. In early 2007, he wrote an opinion piece for the Winnipeg Free Press
calling for a reduction in property taxes rather than the business tax cut favoured by Katz. He argued that a business tax cut would drive up property rates, citing precedents in several other North America
n cities. Vandal has also criticized Katz and council for not moving forward with educational and employment opportunities for aboriginal youth, despite having allocated funds for such programs.
Vandal emerged as one of Sam Katz's most prominent council opponents in late 2007 and 2008. He was a vocal critic of Katz's water and sewer rate increases in late 2007, and accused the mayor of diverting the increased funds into general revenue to pay for his business tax cuts. (Following criticism, Katz agreed to stop the funding diversion by 2009. Some political observers described this as the first serious setback to Katz's control over council after the 2006 election.) Vandal later opposed Katz's plan for a private-public partnership to repair Winnipeg's Disraeli Bridge and Freeway.
Vandal called for a public inquiry into the finances Riverside Park Management
in late 2008, after the city erased $233,000 from the organization's back taxes. The Riverside group is closely linked to Katz's baseball team, and Vandal and others have raised concerns about a potential conflict-of-interest situation and Riverside's status as a non-profit organization
.
In late 2007, Vandal helped create a new city park named after Elzéar Goulet
, who was a member of Louis Riel's provisional government in 1869-70. He later helped preserve a provincial historical site at Upper Fort Garry against opposition from Mayor Katz and developers.
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
, Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He has represented St. Boniface on the Winnipeg City Council
Winnipeg City Council
The Winnipeg City Council is the governing body of the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.Members represent wards throughout the city, and are known as councillors.-2006-2010:Council elected in the 2006 election:-2010-2014:...
for all but two years since 1995, and ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Winnipeg in 2004. He briefly served as acting mayor of Winnipeg following Glen Murray's resignation.
Early life and career
Vandal was born in 1960 to a MétisMétis people (Canada)
The Métis are one of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who trace their descent to mixed First Nations parentage. The term was historically a catch-all describing the offspring of any such union, but within generations the culture syncretised into what is today a distinct aboriginal group, with...
family in Winnipeg, the youngest of eight children. His family identified as French Canadian
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
during his youth, and he only became aware of his Métis heritage in later life. He has two children of his own, Jenna and Jerome.
Vandal dropped out of high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
, and was a manual labourer for part of his teenage years. He started boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
at age 15, turned professional in 1978, and was the #1 ranked Canadian middleweight in 1983. The following year, he fought Alex Hilton
Alex Hilton (boxer)
Alex Hilton is a retired Canadian boxer from a famous boxing family in Montreal. Son of Dave Hilton, Sr. and a former Canadian middleweight champion, he is also known for his multiple encounters with the law....
for the Canadian title in front of 18,000 fans at the Montreal Forum
Montreal Forum
The Montreal Forum was an indoor arena located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Called "the most storied building in hockey history" by Sporting News, it was home of the National Hockey League's Montreal Maroons from 1924 to 1938 and the Montreal Canadiens from 1926 to 1996...
. He later credited boxing for turning his life around, and has opposed efforts to ban the sport.
Vandal subsequently became a youth worker at Winnipeg's Mamawiwichiitata Centre, and received a degree in Social Work from the University of Manitoba
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...
. He was vice-president of the Old St. Boniface Residents Association in the 1990s, and campaigned against the proposed construction of a stadium for Sam Katz
Sam Katz
Samuel Michael Katz, OM is the 42nd mayor of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He is also a businessperson and a member of the Order of Manitoba.- Life before mayorship :...
's Winnipeg Goldeyes
Winnipeg Goldeyes
The Winnipeg Goldeyes are a professional baseball team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada. The Goldeyes play in the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. From 1994 to 2010, the team was a member of the Northern League.The...
baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
team in Whittier Park.
City councillor
Thompson administrationVandal was elected to the Winnipeg City Council
Winnipeg City Council
The Winnipeg City Council is the governing body of the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.Members represent wards throughout the city, and are known as councillors.-2006-2010:Council elected in the 2006 election:-2010-2014:...
in the 1995 municipal election
Winnipeg municipal election, 1995
The 1995 Winnipeg municipal election was held on October 25, 1995 to elect a mayor, councillors and school trustees in the city of Winnipeg.Susan Thompson defeated Peter Kaufmann and Terry Duguid in the mayoral contest.-Councillors:...
, winning an upset victory over incumbent councillor Evelyne Reese
Evelyne Reese
Evelyne Reese is a retired politician in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She served on the Winnipeg City Council for fifteen years, and ran for the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba on two occasions as a candidate of the Liberal Party....
in the St. Boniface Ward. He was associated with the left-leaning Winnipeg in the '90s (WIN) group, which also included councillors Glen Murray and Lillian Thomas
Lillian Thomas
Lillian Thomas is a city councillor in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She has served on council continuously since 1989, initially for Elmwood and later for its successor ward of Elmwood-East Kildonan.-Early life:...
. In 1996, Vandal and Murray served on an ad hoc social services committee that held a series of public hearings on federal and provincial welfare cuts. He later saved the Pointe Hebert neighborhood in his ward from being turned into parkland, and was chosen to sit on the city's newly-formed property and development committee in November 1997.
Vandal was a frequent opponent of Mayor Susan Thompson
Susan Thompson
Susan Ann Thompson was the 40th mayor of Winnipeg, Manitoba. She was the first female to serve as mayor of Winnipeg and served two terms as mayor and held this post from 1992 to 1998.Thompson graduated with a BA from the University of Winnipeg in 1971...
during his first term, and voted against several of Thompson's major initiatives. He opposed a 2% salary rollback for municipal employees in 1996, and later opposed the dissolution of the Winnipeg Housing Rehabilitation Corporation, which provided public housing. In 1997, he voted against a proposal to allow Sam Katz to build a new baseball stadium for the Goldeyes on a city-owned site at The Forks. Vandal's position was that the project was not financially viable, and that Katz would later return to the city for more money. The initiative nonetheless passed, and CanWest Global Park
CanWest Global Park
Shaw Park, formerly Canwest Park, is a baseball stadium in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is home to the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the American Association....
opened in 1999.
n February 1997, Vandal introduced a motion to create a municipal aboriginal affairs committee that would address issues of crime prevention and health. He later represented Winnipeg on an aboriginal subcommittee of the Manitoba Round Table on Environment and Economy.
Murray administration
The WIN organization was dissolved after the 1995 election. Vandal was re-elected in the 1998 municipal election
Winnipeg municipal election, 1998
The 1998 Winnipeg municipal election was held on October 28, 1998 to elect a mayor, councillors and school trustees in the city of Winnipeg.Centre-left candidate Glen Murray defeated populist right-winger Peter Kaufmann in the mayoral contest.-Councillors:...
as an independent with support from the Winnipeg Labour Council
Winnipeg Labour Council
The Winnipeg Labour Council is a labour council based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Affiliated to the Canadian Labour Congress, it represents 50,000+ workers in Winnipeg through 27 affiliated labour unions.- List of affiliated unions :...
and the New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party of Manitoba
The New Democratic Party of Manitoba is a social-democratic political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is the provincial wing of the federal New Democratic Party, and is a successor to the Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...
, of which he was a member at the time. Glen Murray was elected Mayor of Winnipeg in this campaign, and appointed Vandal to his executive policy committee (i.e. the municipal cabinet) as chair of the protection and community services committee, which oversees Winnipeg's police, fire and hospital services. Vandal also led a task force charged with improving francophone services in the city, and was one of three council representatives on the board of Winnipeg Enterprises Corp.
Winnipeg Enterprises Corp.
Winnipeg Enterprises Corp. was an administrative body in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It was established by the City of Winnipeg in 1952 as an arms-length board to oversee major sports facilities. For many years, it was the landlord of Winnipeg Arena and Winnipeg Stadium. Its operations were...
- Chair of the Protection and Community Services Committe
Murray's administration was often at odds with Gary Doer
Gary Doer
Gary Albert Doer, OM is a Canadian diplomat and politician from Manitoba, Canada. Since October 19, 2009, he has served as Canada's Ambassador to the United States...
's provincial government in early 2000 over Winnipeg's ambulance services. Murray and Vandal argued that the city's share of the cost, about $2.5 million per year, should be assumed by the province. Doer initially disagreed, and the issue was unresolved for several months. In July 2000, the city and the province announced a deal with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority to provide five new ambulances and thirty new paramedics, with a ceiling on municipal costs. Vandal said that he was very pleased with the outcome.
Vandal promoted a plan to turn over some police responsibilities to civilian control in 1999, both to reduce costs and to free up more officers for front-line duty. He later supported a plan to introduce photo radar to catch speeding drivers, and endorsed a 2000 report that called for three fire stations to be closed to provide increased funding for paramedic services. Vandal argued that overall fire services would not be affected, as a smaller number of stations could oversee the city. Later in the year, he announced $445,000 in new money to combat a growing problem of arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
.
- Chair of the Property and Development Committe
Murray shuffled the executive policy committee on October 30, 2000, and moved Vandal to the chairmanship of Winnipeg's property and development committee. Soon after his appointment, he helped bring about the demolition of an abandoned Canada Packers site in his ward. The site had been regarded as an eyesore for many years, and was a frequent target for arsonists.
Vandal was chair of the property and development committee when Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
announced that it had found suitable land for a new establishment in north Winnipeg. This came two years after the company lost a political battle to construct a store in a separate area of the same neighbourhood. Vandal argued that this announcement validated council's decision to reject the initial application, which he said would have cost the city an extra $20 million.
Vandal was again endorsed by the Winnipeg Labour Council for the 2002 municipal election
Winnipeg municipal election, 2002
The 2002 Winnipeg municipal election was held on October 23, 2002 to elect a mayor, councillors and school trustees in the city of Winnipeg.Glen Murray, the city's centre-left mayor, was re-elected to a second term over challenger Al Golden.-Councillors:...
. No challengers came forward, and Vandal was returned to council by acclamation. Glen Murray was elected to a second term as mayor, and Vandal was kept as chair of the property and development committee after the election. In 2003, he helped oversee the beginnings of a new subdivision in Waverley West
Waverley West
Waverley West is a planned suburb in the southwestern corner of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It was approved by the government of Manitoba in 2005, and is scheduled to be constructed over a twenty-year period....
.
- Aboriginal issue
Vandal said that he wanted to make aboriginal issues the top priority of his third term in office, and was subsequently the primary author of a 15-point strategy to combat poverty among Winnipeg's aboriginal community. The strategy was highlighted by a plan to create urban reserves, and to provide increased municipal support for aboriginal ventures. The final version of the Municipal Aboriginal Pathways strategy was officially unveiled in September 2003.
- Other issue
Vandal believed that St. Boniface could be developed as a vibrant French Quarter for Winnipeg, and supported tax credits as a means of encouraging this outcome. He also supported a plan to increase the area's population, arguing that this would bring about improvements in other fields.
Vandal was the only member of Murray's cabinet to support a compromise with local anti-poverty groups to remove the most contentious aspects of an anti-panhandling by-law in 1999. He supported funding for downtown festivals as a means of boosting tourism, and helped approve $200,000 to this end in 2000. He was the first cabinet member to favour a total indoor smoking ban in public places, and supported Winnipeg's landmark smoking ban in 2002.
In May 2002, Vandal represented the mayor and council for the raising of a gay pride
Gay pride
LGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...
flag at city hall. He said that he hoped the flag would encourage a spirit of tolerance.
There were rumours that Vandal would run as a candidate of the Liberal Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
in a federal by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in St. Boniface in 2002, but he declined to pursue the option. He later took part in a major Winnipeg protest against the 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
.
- Deputy Mayo
Vandal was promoted to Deputy Mayor of Winnipeg in a November 2003 cabinet shuffle, while remaining chair of the property and development committee and receiving additional responsibility for implementing the city's aboriginal strategy. Many pundits saw this as evidence that Murray was preparing Vandal to become his successor as mayor. In 2004, Vandal indicated his support for Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....
's plan to divert a portion of Canada's Goods and Services Tax
Goods and Services Tax (Canada)
The Goods and Services Tax is a multi-level value added tax introduced in Canada on January 1, 1991, by then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and his finance minister Michael Wilson. The GST replaced a hidden 13.5% Manufacturers' Sales Tax ; Mulroney claimed the GST was implemented because the MST...
revenue to municipal infrastructure.
In late 2003, Vandal requested that hockey legend and franchise owner Mario Lemieux
Mario Lemieux
Mario Lemieux, OC, CQ is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He is acknowledged to be one of the best players of all time. He played 17 seasons as a forward for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League between 1984 and 2006...
consider bringing the Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
to Winnipeg. This was considered to be a longshot offer, and was not successful. Vandal later indicated that Winnipeg was contacted by a "Sun Belt" hockey franchise that was considering a move to Winnipeg, although this too never came to fruition. It was later revealed that the team in question was the Tampa Bay Lightning
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . They have one Stanley Cup championship in their history, in 2003–04. They are often referred to as the...
.
In late April 2004, Vandal was appointed to a steering committee on the development of Manitoba's capital region.
Mayoral campaign
Glen Murray announced his resignation as mayor of Winnipeg on May 11, 2004, stepping down in mid-term to run for a seat in the Canadian House of CommonsCanadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
. Vandal served as acting mayor until May 14, when he resigned his St. Boniface seat to officially seek election as Murray's successor. He appointed Jae Eadie
Jae Eadie
Jae Eadie born in 1948 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada is a former City Councillor for the St. James ward in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He was a councillor from 1980 until his defeat in 2006...
to the position of deputy mayor before resigning, which meant that Eadie served as acting mayor during the campaign.
Vandal ran on his record of accomplishment in Glen Murray's administration, while indicating that he would run the city in a different style. He promised $4.4 million annually in new spending, a downtown housing tax credit and productivity reinvestment tax credit, doubling the city's arts funding, and the creation of a new municipal holiday to celebrate the city's heritage. His campaign launch was introduced by Tina Keeper
Tina Keeper
Tina Keeper, OM , is a Cree activist, producer, former actress and former member of the Canadian House of Commons.Keeper is best known for her role as RCMP officer Michelle Kenidi in the CBC Television series North of 60, about the fictional aboriginal community of Lynx River. She also hosted a...
, and his supporters included John Angus, Jenny Gerbasi
Jenny Gerbasi
Jenny Gerbasi born in 1962 is a City Councillor in the Fort Rouge - East Fort Garry in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She was first elected in 1998 and subsequently reelected in 2002, 2006 and 2010. She is a registered nurse and taught at the University of Manitoba...
, Lillian Thomas
Lillian Thomas
Lillian Thomas is a city councillor in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. She has served on council continuously since 1989, initially for Elmwood and later for its successor ward of Elmwood-East Kildonan.-Early life:...
and Mary Richard
Mary Richard
Mary Richard, OM was an aboriginal activist and politician in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.Richard was born to a Métis family in Camperville, Manitoba. She has long been active in promoting language retention, housing, training, cultural awareness and business enterprise among and for Manitoba's...
, as well as the Winnipeg Labour Council
Winnipeg Labour Council
The Winnipeg Labour Council is a labour council based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Affiliated to the Canadian Labour Congress, it represents 50,000+ workers in Winnipeg through 27 affiliated labour unions.- List of affiliated unions :...
and local anti-poverty activists. Despite a strong start, his campaign was hurt by the late entry of MaryAnn Mihychuk
MaryAnn Mihychuk
MaryAnn Mihychuk is a former politician from Manitoba, Canada. She was a cabinet minister in the government of New Democratic Premier Gary Doer from 1999 to 2004...
, whose candidacy split the centre-left vote. Some argued that Vandal also had difficulty presenting himself as a strong leader. He ultimately finished second against Sam Katz.
Shortly after the election, Vandal was hired by the province to administer a $75 million urban development agreement for Winnipeg's inner city. He later became a project officer with the aboriginal affairs committee of the provincial cabinet.
Return to city council
Vandal was re-elected to the Winnipeg City Council for St. Boniface in the 2006 municipal electionWinnipeg municipal election, 2006
The 2006 Winnipeg municipal election was held on October 25, 2006 to elect a mayor, councillors and school trustees in the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.Sam Katz was re-elected Mayor of Winnipeg over left-leaning challenger Marianne Cerilli.-Council:...
over incumbent Franco Magnifico
Franco Magnifico
Franco Gaetano Luigi Magnifico is a businessperson and politician from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He represented the St. Boniface ward on Winnipeg City Council from 2004 to 2006.-Early life and career:...
, who had taken the seat after Vandal stepped down in 2004. The contest was expected to be close, but Vandal won by a significant margin. By this time, he once again identified as a member of the New Democratic Party. Sam Katz was re-elected as mayor.
Vandal was appointed to the Winnipeg Housing Steering Committee in March 2007, and also sits on the property and planning committee. In early 2007, he wrote an opinion piece for the Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg Free Press
The Winnipeg Free Press is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Founded in 1872, as the Manitoba Free Press, it is the oldest newspaper in western Canada. It is the newspaper with the largest readership in the province....
calling for a reduction in property taxes rather than the business tax cut favoured by Katz. He argued that a business tax cut would drive up property rates, citing precedents in several other North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n cities. Vandal has also criticized Katz and council for not moving forward with educational and employment opportunities for aboriginal youth, despite having allocated funds for such programs.
Vandal emerged as one of Sam Katz's most prominent council opponents in late 2007 and 2008. He was a vocal critic of Katz's water and sewer rate increases in late 2007, and accused the mayor of diverting the increased funds into general revenue to pay for his business tax cuts. (Following criticism, Katz agreed to stop the funding diversion by 2009. Some political observers described this as the first serious setback to Katz's control over council after the 2006 election.) Vandal later opposed Katz's plan for a private-public partnership to repair Winnipeg's Disraeli Bridge and Freeway.
Vandal called for a public inquiry into the finances Riverside Park Management
Riverside Park Management
Riverside Park Management is a non-profit organization in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It was founded by Winnipeg businessman Sam Katz in 1997 to create a leasehold stake in the proposed CanWest Park stadium that eventually housed his Winnipeg Goldeyes baseball team...
in late 2008, after the city erased $233,000 from the organization's back taxes. The Riverside group is closely linked to Katz's baseball team, and Vandal and others have raised concerns about a potential conflict-of-interest situation and Riverside's status as a non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
.
In late 2007, Vandal helped create a new city park named after Elzéar Goulet
Elzéar Goulet
Elzéar Goulet was a Métis leader in the Red River Settlement, which later became the province of Manitoba, Canada...
, who was a member of Louis Riel's provisional government in 1869-70. He later helped preserve a provincial historical site at Upper Fort Garry against opposition from Mayor Katz and developers.
Electoral record
External links
- http://www.danvandal.ca/