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Nettie Wiebe

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Nettie Wiebe, during her 2006 federal election campaign

Nettie Wiebe (born January 22, 1949) is a Canadian professor. She grew up near Warman, Saskatchewan. She has a BA and MA in Philosophy from the University of Saskatchewan and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Calgary.

Wiebe first became widely known as the Women's President from 1988–1994 and the President and CEO from 1995-1998 of the National Farmers Union. During her term she vocally defended the role of the Canadian Wheat Board in the marketing of prairie grains.

In 2001, Wiebe sought the leadership of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (and by implication, the office of Premier of Saskatchewan, as the party was in government at the time), following the retirement of then premier and party leader Roy Romanow. For the first time in Saskatchewan, the NDP utilized One Member One Vote as its means of selecting a leader rather than a delegated leadership convention. Wiebe ran on the most explicitly left-wing platform of the major contenders, and placed third behind Chris Axworthy and the eventual winner, Lorne Calvert.

Wiebe chose not to run for a seat in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan in the subsequent 2003 provincial election. However, she did run, unsuccessfully, as the federal New Democratic Party candidate in the 2004 federal election in the riding of Saskatoon—Humboldt, against Conservative candidate Brad Trost, Liberal candidate Patrick Wolfe, and incumbent independent Jim Pankiw. In what was the closest four-way race in the country, Wiebe placed second, with only 417 fewer votes than the winner, Brad Trost, and only 18 more votes than Wolfe (the third place candidate).

In the 2006 Canadian federal election, Wiebe ran as the NDP candidate in the riding of Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, but lost to incumbent Conservative Carol Skelton.

Wiebe is currently a professor of church and society at St. Andrew's College in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She was once again the NDP candidate in Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar in the 2008 federal election, but Conservative candidate Kelly Block defeated her by just 262 votes (0.98%), Wiebe's narrowest loss to date. She was considered a potential candidate for the 2009 Saskatchewan NDP leadership convention, following Calvert's resignation on October 17, 2008.[1] Wiebe later announced she would not run for the provincial leadership and instead focus on federal politics.[2] Wiebe was re-nominated as the NDP candidate for Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar for the 2011 federal election.[3] Block once again defeated Wiebe, this time prevailing by 538 votes. Notably, both women increased their percentage of popular support at the expense of the Liberals and Greens.

Electoral record

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Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar - 2011 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Kelly Block 14,652 48.70% +3.31%
New Democratic Nettie Wiebe 14,114 46.91% +2.49%
Liberal Lee Reaney 697 2.32% -2.09%
Green Vicki Strelioff 626 2.08% -2.49%
Total valid votes/Expense limit 30,089 100.00%
Total rejected ballots 131 0.43%
Turnout 30,220 62.29%
Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar - 2008 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Kelly Block 12,231 45.39% -0.15% $78,169
New Democratic Nettie Wiebe 11,969 44.41% +5.47% $63,284
Green Amber Jones 1,232 4.57% +2.06% $8,194
Liberal Roy Bluehorn 1,188 4.40% -7.69% $10,785
Independent Rick Barsky 138 0.51% +0.5%
Christian Heritage Marcel Bourassa 115 0.42% -0.47% $50
Libertarian Kevin Stricker 73 0.27% +0.28% $1,339
Total valid votes/Expense limit 26,946 100% $78,625
Total rejected ballots 87 0.18%
Turnout 27,303 54.8%

Source: Elections Canada - Official Voting Results

Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar - 2006 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Carol Skelton 13,331 45.54% +0.71% $58,211
New Democratic Nettie Wiebe 11,412 38.98% +2.75% $62,156
Liberal Myron Luczka 3,536 12.08% -3.66% $2,869
Green Rick Barsky 738 2.52% -0.65% $1,068
Christian Heritage Marcel Bourassa 258 0.88% $4,463
Total valid votes 29,275 100.00%
Total rejected ballots 78 0.27%
Turnout 29,353 60.66%
Saskatoon—Humboldt - 2004 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Brad Trost 9,444 26.74% $61,922
New Democratic Nettie Wiebe 9,027 25.56% $58,415
Liberal Patrick Wolfe 9,009 25.51% $66,060
Independent Jim Pankiw 7,076 20.04% $73,828
Green Ron Schriml 680 1.92% $25
Independent Larry Zarysky 71 0.20% $2,594
Total valid votes 35,307 100.00%
Total rejected ballots 66 0.19%
Turnout 35,373 62.97%

References

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  1. ^ "Former Saskatchewan premier steps down as leader of NDP", Canadian Press October 17, 2008. Archived October 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ http://www.paherald.sk.ca/Politics/2009-01-22/article-169448/No-go-for-Nettie-Wiebe/1 Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine "No go for Nettie Wiebe" Prince Albert Daily Herald January 22, 2009
  3. ^ "Nettie Wiebe To Carry NDP Banner in Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar". (dead link) Retrieved from http://www.srbndp.ca/ Archived 2009-07-03 at the Wayback Machine on January 10, 2009
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