The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
MaryAnn, Lloyd, Cliff and Sid Who are these four people? They are Manitobans who were all politically involved in our province. Lloyd is of course Lloyd Axworthy, former Liberal cabinet minister and now head of the University of Winnipeg. A number of people were surprised to find out that he had been appointed to the board of Hudbay Minerals Inc., supposedly because of his environmental interests, as he had never been involved with mining or mineral interests. Axworthy is a self-proclaimed environmentalist, although one cannot remember him doing anything in this regard while a member of Jean ChrtienÕs cabinet. He did get a lot of countries to sign on to the anti-landmine treaty and tried to get agreement to halt the trade in deadly weapons. Unfortunately the major countries with interests in weapons and landmines did not sign on, and the treaties were doomed to failure. Like other politicians, Lloyd has been accepting board and corporate appointments, similar to that of others like Brian Mulroney. It does give Hudbay a prominent Liberal on their board. MaryAnn is MaryAnn Mihychuk, a former Manitoba NDP cabinet minister and geologist who in October was appointed Director of Corporate Relations for Hudbay. She is certainly well qualified for the position. MaryAnn first gained prominence as a Winnipeg school trustee and board chair before running for provincial office. She was also known as the geologist who wouldnÕt leave the city. The Filmon government decentralized some of the provinceÕs civil servants. This included shipping some of the geologists stationed in Winnipeg to mining areas such as Flin Flon and Thompson, rationalizing they should be where the minerals are. Mihychuk refused to go and left her job with the province. In 1995 she ran provincially in St. James against Liberal leader Paul Edwards and Tory Cliff Allbutt, achieving a narrow victory. Great candidate This writer was involved in the race as Tory campaign manager, with a great candidate in the Flin Flon-born Allbutt. The riding was split between west Winnipeg and eastern St. James, areas that had little or nothing to do with each other. Allbutt is the son of Ruth McIsaac of Midwest mining fame, and her husband worked for the exploration company. They moved to Winnipeg, where Cliff became best known for his Community Centre activities, particularly coaching hockey in St. James. Cliff was very popular and won in that part of the constituency but lost by 647 votes to the NDP in the Winnipeg portion. AllbuttÕs St. James strength killed any chance Edwards had, and Mihychuk was the winner. Allbutt later left his job and became a manufacturerÕs agent and then founded Allbutt Mining Supplies. He recently talked of opening an office in Snow Lake/Flin Flon due to the new mineral discovery. Cliff ran again in 2003 in the new St. James riding, but the NDP was solidly entrenched. He remains one of the best candidates the PCs ever had in that area. MaryAnn spent four years as St. James MLA, then with the boundary changes in 1999, ran in the west-end seat of Minto, easily won and became Mines minister in the Doer government. Surprisingly she left her seat and ran for mayor of Winnipeg. After a predictable loss she took a job with with the Canadian Prospectors Association in Toronto. She should do very well with Hudbay. Now that Hudbay has a prominent Liberal and New Democrat on board, where is the prominent Conservative? After all they are in power in Ottawa. How about Brian Mulroney? Just kidding! Then thereÕs Sid, as in Sid Green, my favourite New Democrat. Sid deserves more space so will be discussed at length in next weekÕs column. RogerÕs Right Corner runs Wednesdays.
