Jim Pankiw
Encyclopedia
Jim Pankiw is a Canadian
politician
and former Member of Parliament
.
Pankiw served two terms in the Canadian House of Commons
, representing Saskatoon—Humboldt
in Saskatchewan
from 1997 until 2004 as a member of the Reform Party of Canada
, the Canadian Alliance
, the Democratic Representative Caucus
and finally as an independent
MP.
. His mother died when he was young. After training as a chiropractor
, Pankiw was first elected to Parliament in the 1997 federal election
as a member of the Reform Party. He won a plurality of just 220 votes over Dennis Gruending
of the New Democratic Party
.
, Peter MacKinnon
, condemning the university's affirmative action
policies and comparing its supporters to those of the Ku Klux Klan
. The letter led to a heated debate between Pankiw and Saskatchewan Liberal
cabinet
minister Jack Hilson on the university campus.
At the time of the 2000 election
, Pankiw was a member of Reform's successor, the Canadian Alliance. He ran into opposition during his on-campus debate with the Liberal
candidate, former MP Morris Bodnar
. Owing to strong support from the rural areas of the constituency, Pankiw won re-election with a plurality of 6,360 votes.
and especially the leader, Stockwell Day
, was reported to be strained. Pankiw eventually joined with a small group of MPs informally led by Chuck Strahl
and called for Day's resignation. As a result, Pankiw was suspended and eventually expelled from the Alliance caucus and party. After joining with other expellees to form the Democratic Representative Caucus, Pankiw sat with other DRC members in the Progressive Conservative
-DRC coalition.
The election of Stephen Harper
as leader of the Alliance resulted in the dissolution of the PC-DRC coalition and in most of the DRC members returning to the Alliance fold. Pankiw also applied for re-admission. However, by this time he was involved in another controversy, after an Aboriginal lawyer alleged that an inebriated Pankiw had made lewd gestures to him in a Saskatoon bar, and challenged him to a fight.
Pankiw was denied re-admission to the Alliance. He was also refused membership in the new Conservative Party of Canada
, and served the rest of his term as an independent MP.
Pankiw finished ahead of Maddin in third place, behind runner-up Peter Zakreski. Don Atchison
was elected mayor. Voter turnout exceeded 50 percent, a level almost unheard of in a Canadian municipal election.
, against Conservative candidate Brad Trost
, Liberal Patrick Wolfe and New Democrat Nettie Wiebe
. He received 7,076 votes, achieving fourth place, 2,368 votes behind the winner, Trost.
Pankiw was defeated again in the 2006 federal election
in the Battlefords-Lloydminster constituency by Conservative Gerry Ritz
. Ritz has represented Battlefords-Lloydminster since the 1997 election, which he won after defeating Pankiw's father George in a heated contest for the Reform Party nomination.
On February 4, 2010, Pankiw announced that he would once again run as an Independent candidate in the next federal election, in his old riding of Saskatoon-Humboldt. In the press conference in which he announced his candidacy, Pankiw informed the news reporters that he had invited that he did not need the media to win, that he had invited them to "rub it in your face", and refused to answer a question over whether or not he was sober. Pankiw finished last in a field of five candidates, receiving only 679 votes, compared to 19,930 votes for the winning incumbant Trost.
near Landis
, but he was later located at his home in Unity
, unharmed.
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...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
and former Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
.
Pankiw served two terms in the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian 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...
, representing Saskatoon—Humboldt
Saskatoon—Humboldt
Saskatoon—Humboldt is a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1968 to 1979, and since 1988.-Geography:...
in Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
from 1997 until 2004 as a member of the Reform Party of Canada
Reform Party of Canada
The Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a populist party....
, the Canadian Alliance
Canadian Alliance
The Canadian Alliance , formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance , was a Canadian conservative political party that existed from 2000 to 2003. The party was the successor to the Reform Party of Canada and inherited its position as the Official Opposition in the House of Commons and held...
, the Democratic Representative Caucus
Democratic Representative Caucus
The Democratic Representative Caucus was a group of Canadian Members of Parliament who left the Canadian Alliance in 2001 in protest against the leadership of Stockwell Day...
and finally as an independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
MP.
Early life
Pankiw was raised by his father George in Unity, SaskatchewanUnity, Saskatchewan
-Area statistics:*Lat 52°26′ N*Long 109°10′00″ W*Dominion Land Survey Section 18, Township 40, Range 22, West of the 3rd Meridian*Time zone UTC−6-Location:-See also:*List of towns in Saskatchewan...
. His mother died when he was young. After training as a chiropractor
Chiropractor
A Chiropractor, according to the Association of Chiropractic Colleges , "focuses on the relationship between the body's main structures – the skeleton, the muscles and the nerves – and the patient's health. Chiropractors believe that health can be improved and preserved by making adjustments to...
, Pankiw was first elected to Parliament in the 1997 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1997
The Canadian federal election of 1997 was held on June 2, 1997, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 36th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's Liberal Party of Canada won a second majority government...
as a member of the Reform Party. He won a plurality of just 220 votes over Dennis Gruending
Dennis Gruending
Dennis Gruending is a Canadian journalist and politician. He is primarily a writer of non-fiction, but also published a book of poetry and various pieces of short fiction...
of the New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
.
Controversy
In 2000, Pankiw wrote a letter to the president of the University of SaskatchewanUniversity of Saskatchewan
The University of Saskatchewan is a Canadian public research university, founded in 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. An "Act to establish and incorporate a University for the Province of Saskatchewan" was passed by the...
, Peter MacKinnon
Peter MacKinnon
R. Peter MacKinnon, QC, LL.M is a Canadian lawyer, legal academic and the current President of the University of Saskatchewan.-Biography:...
, condemning the university's affirmative action
Affirmative action
Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...
policies and comparing its supporters to those of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
. The letter led to a heated debate between Pankiw and Saskatchewan Liberal
Saskatchewan Liberal Party
The Saskatchewan Liberal Party is a liberal political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.-Early history :The party dominated Saskatchewan politics for the province's first forty years providing six of the first seven Premiers, and being in power for all but five of the years between the...
cabinet
Cabinet (government)
A Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
minister Jack Hilson on the university campus.
At the time of the 2000 election
Canadian federal election, 2000
The 2000 Canadian federal election was held on November 27, 2000, to elect 301 Members of Parliament of the Canadian House of Commons of the 37th Parliament of Canada....
, Pankiw was a member of Reform's successor, the Canadian Alliance. He ran into opposition during his on-campus debate with the Liberal
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...
candidate, former MP Morris Bodnar
Morris Bodnar
Morris P. Bodnar was a member of the Canadian House of Commons at the Saskatoon—Dundurn electoral district from 1993 to 1997. He is a lawyer by career....
. Owing to strong support from the rural areas of the constituency, Pankiw won re-election with a plurality of 6,360 votes.
Expulsion
By 2001, Pankiw's relationship with much of the Alliance caucusCaucus
A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement, especially in the United States and Canada. As the use of the term has been expanded the exact definition has come to vary among political cultures.-Origin of the term:...
and especially the leader, Stockwell Day
Stockwell Day
Stockwell Burt Day, Jr., PC, MP is a former Canadian politician, and a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. He is a former cabinet minister in Alberta, and a former leader of the Canadian Alliance. Day was MP for the riding of Okanagan—Coquihalla in British Columbia and the president of...
, was reported to be strained. Pankiw eventually joined with a small group of MPs informally led by Chuck Strahl
Chuck Strahl
Charles Strahl, PC, MP was a politician in British Columbia, Canada. He was a Member of Parliament in the governing Conservative Party of Canada.-Before politics:...
and called for Day's resignation. As a result, Pankiw was suspended and eventually expelled from the Alliance caucus and party. After joining with other expellees to form the Democratic Representative Caucus, Pankiw sat with other DRC members in the Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
-DRC coalition.
The election of Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
as leader of the Alliance resulted in the dissolution of the PC-DRC coalition and in most of the DRC members returning to the Alliance fold. Pankiw also applied for re-admission. However, by this time he was involved in another controversy, after an Aboriginal lawyer alleged that an inebriated Pankiw had made lewd gestures to him in a Saskatoon bar, and challenged him to a fight.
Pankiw was denied re-admission to the Alliance. He was also refused membership in the new Conservative Party of Canada
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
, and served the rest of his term as an independent MP.
Mayoralty election
In 2003, Pankiw ran against the unpopular incumbent James Maddin for mayor of Saskatoon. Those opposed to him raised billboards that read "Racism-Free Zone — No Pankiw, Thank You". In response, Pankiw distributed flyers claiming that it was his opponents who were racist. The revelation that Pankiw had recently purchased a home outside the Saskatoon city limits also attracted criticism since his mayoral application said he resided in the Forest Grove area in northeast Saskatoon.Pankiw finished ahead of Maddin in third place, behind runner-up Peter Zakreski. Don Atchison
Don Atchison
Donald J. Atchison is a Canadian politician who was elected mayor of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on October 22, 2003. He won a close four-way contest, running on a platform that included being tough on crime, freezing property taxes, and resuming control of the city's police commission...
was elected mayor. Voter turnout exceeded 50 percent, a level almost unheard of in a Canadian municipal election.
Reelection and return campaigns
Pankiw sought re-election in the 2004 federal electionCanadian federal election, 2004
The Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...
, against Conservative candidate Brad Trost
Brad Trost
Bradley Ryan "Brad" Trost is a Conservative Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons, representing the riding of Saskatoon—Humboldt....
, Liberal Patrick Wolfe and New Democrat Nettie Wiebe
Nettie Wiebe
Nettie Wiebe is a Canadian professor, born January 22, 1949. She grew up near Warman, Saskatchewan. She has a BA and MA in Philosophy from the University of Saskatchewan and a Ph.D in Philosophy from the University of Calgary....
. He received 7,076 votes, achieving fourth place, 2,368 votes behind the winner, Trost.
Pankiw was defeated again in the 2006 federal election
Canadian federal election, 2006
The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...
in the Battlefords-Lloydminster constituency by Conservative Gerry Ritz
Gerry Ritz
Gerry Ritz, PC, MP is Canada's Agriculture minister and a Canadian Member of Parliament for Battlefords—Lloydminster, a largely rural riding in Saskatchewan...
. Ritz has represented Battlefords-Lloydminster since the 1997 election, which he won after defeating Pankiw's father George in a heated contest for the Reform Party nomination.
On February 4, 2010, Pankiw announced that he would once again run as an Independent candidate in the next federal election, in his old riding of Saskatoon-Humboldt. In the press conference in which he announced his candidacy, Pankiw informed the news reporters that he had invited that he did not need the media to win, that he had invited them to "rub it in your face", and refused to answer a question over whether or not he was sober. Pankiw finished last in a field of five candidates, receiving only 679 votes, compared to 19,930 votes for the winning incumbant Trost.
Post-2011 election
In October 2011, Pankiw was charged with impaired driving from an incident occurring on July 26, 2011. On November 1, his father George was reported missing after failing to show up at his son's Sasaktoon clinic on the night of October 31. George Pankiw's car was found abandoned on Highway 14Saskatchewan Highway 14
Highway 14 is a highway in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It runs from the intersection of Idylwyld Drive and 22nd Street in downtown Saskatoon, westward to the Albertan border where it becomes Highway 13. It is approximately 261 km long.Prior to the 1970's, Highway 14 ran the width...
near Landis
Landis, Saskatchewan
Landis is a village in western Saskatchewan, Canada, about 32 miles south of Wilkie and about 80 miles west from Saskatoon on Highway 14. Landis has a population of 400. It is located within the Sun West School Division. From 1907 to 1909, the post office at Section 23, Township 37, Range 18 west...
, but he was later located at his home in Unity
Unity, Saskatchewan
-Area statistics:*Lat 52°26′ N*Long 109°10′00″ W*Dominion Land Survey Section 18, Township 40, Range 22, West of the 3rd Meridian*Time zone UTC−6-Location:-See also:*List of towns in Saskatchewan...
, unharmed.