27 Facts About Jim Walding

Derek James Walding was a politician in Manitoba, Canada.

Jim Walding was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1971 to 1988 and served as speaker of the assembly from 1982 to 1986.

Jim Walding was a member of the New Democratic Party of Manitoba.

Jim Walding spent three years with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, including a stint in West Berlin.

Jim Walding moved to Canada in 1961 and worked in Winnipeg as a dispensing optician and contact lens fitter.

Jim Walding first ran for the Manitoba legislature in the 1969 provincial election.

Jim Walding initially sought the NDP nomination in the northeastern Winnipeg division of Radisson, but he lost to Harry Shafransky.

Jim Walding was later recruited as the party's candidate for the nearby division of St Vital, and lost to Progressive Conservative candidate Jack Hardy by only 23 votes.

Hardy resigned from the legislature in February 1971, and Jim Walding was nominated as the NDP candidate for the by-election to succeed him.

Jim Walding was narrowly elected, defeating Liberal candidate Dan Kennedy by 295 votes.

Jim Walding served as a backbench supporter of the Schreyer government and developed a strong reputation for constituency work.

Jim Walding chaired the private bills committee of the legislature and gave up his practice as an optician.

Jim Walding voted against Schreyer's decision to extend public funding to denominational schools in a free vote of the legislature.

Jim Walding faced a serious challenge from Kennedy in the 1973 election but won by 105 votes.

The New Democrats were defeated in the 1977 provincial election although Jim Walding was personally re-elected with an increased plurality.

Jim Walding later supported Pawley, the successful candidate, at the party's leadership convention.

Jim Walding was not appointed to cabinet, as some had expected.

In 1983 and 1984, Jim Walding allowed the opposition Progressive Conservatives to stall passage of the Pawley government's re-entrenchment of French-language rights.

Sidney Green, who had left the NDP by then and opposed French-language re-entrenchment, still argued that Jim Walding was wrong to give the Conservatives a means to disrupt the legislative process.

Jim Walding's actions made him extremely unpopular with some segments of his party.

Jim Walding was challenged for the St Vital NDP nomination in 1986 by Gerri Unwin and Sig Laser, and he defeated Laser by a single vote on the second ballot.

Jim Walding was re-elected in the general election of 1986 with a reduced majority.

Jim Walding was particularly opposed to affirmative action legislation, which he regarded as discriminatory.

Jim Walding voted for an opposition amendment to his party's budget on March 8,1988, despite having assured Finance Minister Eugene Kostyra that he would support it.

The NDP was roundly defeated in the general election that followed, in which Jim Walding was not a candidate.

Jim Walding died at 69 after a short battle with cancer in 2007.

Jim Walding was survived by his wife, Valerie, and their children, Andrew, Phillip and Christine.