George Hickes (Manitoba politician)

George Hickes (born 26 June 1946)[1] is a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He has served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1990 until 2011, and was the Speaker of the Assembly from November 1999 to October 2011. He is a member of the New Democratic Party.

George Hickes
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for Point Douglas
In office
1990–2011
Preceded byNone
Succeeded byKevin Chief
28th Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
In office
1999–2011
Preceded byLouise Dacquay
Succeeded byDaryl Reid
Personal details
Born(1946-06-26)June 26, 1946
Ports Point, Northwest Territories
Political partyNDP

Hickes is the father of Nunavut politician George Hickes Jr.,[2] and the uncle of Nunavut politician Hunter Tootoo and hockey player Jordin Tootoo.[3]

Early life and career

Hickes was born to an Inuit family near Ports Point in the Northwest Territories (now Nunavut), and was raised in Churchill, Manitoba. His early years alternated between traditional Inuit life and modern Canadian society. He caught beluga whales in his youth (a long-standing tradition in Inuit culture), and earned the nickname "coldwater cowboy" for working without the aid of nets. The descendants of whales caught by Hickes can still be seen in several aquariums throughout the world.[4]

Hickes worked as a heavy equipment operator at the Tar Sands Project in Fort McMurray, Alberta in the early 1970s, and held a variety of jobs in Churchill during the same period.[5] He joined Manitoba's New Careers program in 1976, and later acknowledged that this decision saved him from a life of poverty.[6] After graduating in 1978, Hickes became a trainer and coordinator for New Careers in Winnipeg until 1984.[7] He later worked as executive director of the Limestone Training and Employment Agency near Gillam, Manitoba, and assisted in designing an education program for the Yukon.[8]

Provincial politics

Opposition member

Hickes planned to challenge Elijah Harper for the NDP nomination in Rupertsland before the 1990 provincial election, but withdrew when Harper attained national prominence for blocking the Meech Lake Accord.[9] He was instead elected for the north-end Winnipeg constituency of Point Douglas, which has a large aboriginal community. He has been returned in every election since then, and received almost 75% support in the 2003 election.

The NDP formed the Official Opposition in the Manitoba legislature from 1990 to 1999, and Hickes served as his party's whip in this period.[10] He played a prominent role in having November 8 designated as a day to recognize Manitoba's aboriginal veterans, and successfully called for legislation requiring that cooking liqueurs sold in the province have no more than 25% alcohol content. The latter measure followed a series of deaths in Winnipeg involving Chinese cooking wine with a higher alcohol content.[11] Hickes supported Lorne Nystrom's bid to lead the federal New Democratic Party in 1995.

He spoke against plans to create an aboriginal political party in 1994, arguing that such a party could not effectively represent multicultural communities. Referring to his own Point Douglas riding, he said, "You have Ukrainians, Filipinos, Chinese. What happens to them . . . if you're running to represent only one group of people?"[12]

Manitoba's electoral boundaries were redistributed in 1999. Hickes was challenged for the Point Douglas NDP nomination by fellow legislator Conrad Santos, whose Broadway constituency had been eliminated. He won the challenge, and Santos subsequently ran and was elected in the new division of Wellington.[13]

Speaker

The NDP won a majority government in the 1999 election, and Hickes defeated Santos, Denis Rocan and Marcel Laurendeau in a free vote of the assembly to become its new speaker.[14] He was the first speaker to be chosen in this manner, previous speakers having been appointed by the premier. He was re-elected speaker in 2003. Hickes was re-elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 2007 provincial election. Shortly after, he was re-elected as speaker without opposition.[15] Opposition party leaders Hugh McFadyen and Jon Gerrard both indicated that they regarded Hickes as fair and even-handed.[16]

On February 10, 2011, Hickes announced that he would not seek re-election in the next provincial election.[17]

Electoral record
2007 Manitoba general election: Point Douglas
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
New DemocraticGeorge Hickes2,66566.36−8.50$12,892.59
LiberalMary Lou Bourgeois59114.72+0.48$11,443.44
Progressive ConservativeAlexa Rosentreter48111.98+3.21$1,180.30
GreenKristen Andrews2135.30–$84.55
CommunistDarrell Rankin661.64−0.49$373.89
Total valid votes 4,016 100.00
Rejected and declined ballots 290.72-0.69
Turnout 4,045 40.14 −0.10
Electors on the lists 10,077
New Democratic hold Swing -4.49
2003 Manitoba general election: Point Douglas
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
New DemocraticGeorge Hickes2,87774.86+21.52$10,189.54
LiberalMary Lou Bourgeois54714.23−7.12$7,991.06
Progressive ConservativeWyatt McIntyre3378.77−10.79$10.68
CommunistDarrell Rankin822.13$376.06
Total valid votes 3,843 100.00
Rejected and declined ballots 551.41+0.48
Turnout 3,898 40.24 −18.84
Electors on the lists 9,687
New Democratic hold Swing +14.32
1999 Manitoba general election: Point Douglas
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
New DemocraticGeorge Hickes3,33853.34-9.69$21,952.00
LiberalAjay Chopra1,33621.35-1.71$21,013.00
Progressive ConservativeMary Richard1,22419.56+7.79$20,221.11
IndependentPeter Juba3605.75$2,113.33
Total valid votes 6,258 100.00
Rejected and declined ballots 590.93-0.17
Turnout 6,317 59.080.85
Electors on the lists 10,693
New Democratic hold Swing +3.99
1995 Manitoba general election: Point Douglas
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
New DemocraticGeorge Hickes3,09563.03+8.32$15,378.00
LiberalLinda Cantiveros1,13223.05-7.47$15,916.74
Progressive ConservativeClaire Riddle57811.77+0.45$13,389.05
First Peoples PartyLyle Morrisseau1052.14no report filed
Total valid votes 4,910 100.00
Rejected and discarded ballots 55 1.11 -0.27
Turnout 4,965 58.23 -2.70
Electors on lists 8,527
New Democratic hold Swing +7.90
1990 Manitoba general election: Point Douglas
Party Candidate Votes%±%
New DemocraticGeorge Hickes2,77854.72
LiberalErrol Lewis1,55030.53
Progressive ConservativeCalvin Pompana57511.33
IndependentWilliam Hawryluk1082.13
IndependentRoy Price661.30
Total valid votes 5,077 100.00
Rejected ballots 71 1.38
Turnout 5,148 60.92
Electors on lists 8,450

All electoral information is taken from Elections Manitoba. Expenditure entries refer to individual candidate expenses.

Footnotes
  1. "MLA Biographies - Living". The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.
  2. "Iqaluit candidate George Hickes Jr. asks voters about their Nunavut priorities". Nunatsiaq News, October 2, 2013.
  3. Frank Landry, "Tootoo's special to speaker", Winnipeg Sun, date not listed. Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Ilene K. Grossman, "Speaker George Hickes", Stateline, Volume 14 Number 1, January 2005.
  5. Scott Edmonds, "Inuit MLA first elected Speaker in Manitoba", Globe and Mail, 19 November 1999, A27.
  6. Donald Campbell, "MLA Hickes says program saved him", Winnipeg Free Press, 15 May 1993, City Page and Alice Krueger, "Axe falls on training program", Winnipeg Free Press, 7 March 1995, City Page.
  7. Treena Khan, "City heritage cite celebrates history", Winnipeg Free Press, 15 May 1994, City Page.
  8. The Speaker of the House: George Hickes, Manitoba legislature, accessed 2006.
  9. Pauline Comeau, Elijah, (Vancouver & Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 1993), p. 194.
  10. David Kuxhaus, "New Speaker sets historic precedents", Winnipeg Free Press, 19 November 1999, A3.
  11. Grossman, "Speaker George Hickes".
  12. "Aboriginal party in Manitoba would be open to all", Financial Post, 30 October 1994, p. 6.
  13. Doug Nairne, "MLA leaves safe riding for run at Liberals'", Winnipeg Free Press, 27 April 1999, A5.
  14. Kuxhaus, "New Speaker sets historic precedents".
  15. Hansard volume LVIX No. 1-1:30p.m. Wednesday, June 6, 2007; "And so it begins" [editorial], Winnipeg Free Press, 7 June 2007, A10.
  16. Mia Rabson, "Speaker still has whale of a job", Winnipeg Free Press, 7 June 2007, A6.
  17. "George Hickes won't seek re-election after 21 years as NDP MLA". CTV Winnipeg. February 10, 2011.
Political offices
Preceded by
Louise Dacquay		 Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
November 18, 1999 – October 20, 2011		 Succeeded by
Daryl Reid
Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
Preceded by
Riding created		 Member of the Legislative Assembly for Point Douglas
September 11, 1990 – October 3, 2011		 Succeeded by
Kevin Chief
Order of precedence
Preceded by
Glenn Joyal
as Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba		 Order of precedence in Manitoba
as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba		 Succeeded by
Michel Monnin
as a Puisne Judge of Appeal of the Manitoba Court of Appeal
Succeeded by
Kenneth Hanssen
as a Puisne Judge of the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba
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