Wayne Kenneth Wettlaufer[1] (December 16, 1943 – June 21, 2015) was a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2003. In 2014 he was elected as a regional councillor for Kitchener and he served in that position until his death in 2015.
Wayne Wettlaufer | |
|---|---|
| Ontario MPP | |
| In office 1999–2003 | |
| Preceded by | New riding |
| Succeeded by | John Milloy |
| Constituency | Kitchener Centre |
| In office 1995–1999 | |
| Preceded by | Will Ferguson |
| Succeeded by | Riding abolished |
| Constituency | Kitchener |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 16, 1943 Kitchener, Ontario |
| Died | June 21, 2015 (aged 71) Waterloo, Ontario |
| Political party | Progressive Conservative |
| Children | 1 |
| Occupation | Insurance manager |
Background edit
Wettlaufer obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Guelph. He worked as an insurance manager for K.W. Insurance in 1963, and as an insurance inspector for Waterloo Mutual and Gore Mutual, Ottawa in 1972. He was promoted to corporate marketing manager with Gore Mutual, Cambridge in 1980, and became a partner in the firm of Wettlaufer, Collins, Rankin Insurance Brokers in 1984. He remained a member of this firm until winning political office in 1995.
Politics edit
Wettlaufer was elected to the Ontario legislature for the riding of Kitchener in the provincial election of 1995, defeating Liberal candidate Bryan Stortz by over 3,000 votes.[2] The Progressive Conservatives won a majority government in this election and Wettlaufer served as a backbench supporter of the Mike Harris government.
In 1996, the Harris government reduced the number of ridings from 130 to 103. This change meant that sitting MPPs had to compete against one another for re-nomination in some ridings. Wettlaufer ran for the Kitchener Centre PC nomination in 1999 defeating fellow PC member Gary Leadston.[3] Wettlaufer was re-elected in the provincial election of 1999, defeating Liberal Berry Vrbanovic by over 4,000 votes in the redistributed riding of Kitchener Centre.[4][5] He was appointed to the position of deputy whip after the election, and continued in his role as a backbencher throughout his time in the legislature.
As a backbencher, he passed a Private Member's Bill designating the day after Thanksgiving in each year as German Pioneers Day in Ontario.[6] In the provincial election of 2003, Wettlaufer lost to Liberal candidate John Milloy by just over 2,000 votes.[7]
Wettlaufer endorsed Frank Klees for the leadership of the Ontario PC Party in 2004 and 2009. In 2005, he vied for the PC nomination in the Federal riding of Kitchener-Conestoga. He lost to Harold Albrecht who went on to win the contest in the Canadian election of 2006.[8]
In 2012, as president of the Ontario chapter of the German-Canadian Congress, Wettlaufer defended accused war criminal Helmut Oberlander who was stripped of his Canadian citizenship. Wettlaufer said, "The court case did not prove beyond a doubt that he was a war criminal."[9] On July 3, 2013, Wettlaufer stirred controversy with a tweet, later deleted, that claimed female electors vote for the Liberal Party because they "get all their information from the Toronto Star" and are "less informed".[10][11]
He was a candidate in the provincial election of 2014 in his old riding of Kitchener Centre.[12] During the election campaign Wettlaufer contradicted his party platform during an all candidate debate when he said that public sector jobs would be cut entirely through attrition.[13] He was defeated by Liberal candidate Daiene Vernile by 6,913 votes.[14][15][16]
He was elected as a regional councillor for Kitchener in the 2014 election but served less than a year before his death on June 21, 2015.[17]
Electoral record edit
| Waterloo Region - Regional Councillor for the City of Kitchener, 2014[18][note 1] | |
| Candidate | Votes |
|---|---|
| Karen Redman | 28,616 |
| Tom Galloway | 24,866 |
| Wayne Wettlaufer | 17,471 |
| Geoff Lorentz | 17,005 |
| Elizabeth Clarke | 16,586 |
| Cameron J. Dearlove | 14,439 |
| Greg Burns | 8,331 |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Daiene Vernile | 18,472 | 43.14 | +3.91 | |
| Progressive Conservative | Wayne Wettlaufer | 11,550 | 26.98 | -11.42 | |
| New Democratic | Margaret Johnston | 9,765 | 22.81 | +3.99 | |
| Green | Ronnie Smith | 2,472 | 5.77 | +3.38 | |
| Libertarian | Patrick Bernier | 557 | 1.30 | +0.69 | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | John Milloy | 18,280 | 42.60 | +2.68 | |
| Progressive Conservative | Wayne Wettlaufer | 16,120 | 37.57 | -12.58 | |
| New Democratic | Ted Martin | 6,781 | 15.80 | +8.04 | |
| Green | Luigi D'agnillo | 1,728 | 4.03 | +2.78 | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Progressive Conservative | Wayne Wettlaufer | 22,593 | |||
| Liberal | Berry Vrbanovic | 17,984 | |||
| New Democratic | David Brohman | 3,494 | |||
| Green | Susan Koswan | 561 | |||
| Natural Life | Roy Anderson | 204 | |||
| Ind | Irvine Conner | 109 | |||
| Marxist–Leninist | Julian Ichim | 107 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Progressive Conservative | Wayne Wettlaufer | 13,374 | |||
| Liberal | Bryan Stortz | 9,992 | |||
| New Democratic | Sandi Ellis | 6,998 | |||
| Family Coalition | Lou Reitzel | 2,111 | |||
| Ind | Bob Oberholtzer | 612 | |||
| Ind | Frank Kerek | 223 | |||
References edit
Notes edit
- ^ Four positions available.
Citations edit
- ^ "Wayne Wettlaufer - Sunday, June 21st, 2015".
- ^ "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. 8 June 1995.
- ^ Urquhart, Ian (3 June 1999). "Analysis The key ridings to watch for clues to who's winning". Toronto Star. p. 1.
- ^ "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. 3 June 1999. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
- ^ "Ontario Votes 2003". CBC News. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ^ "German Pioneers Day". German-Canadian Business & Professional Association of Kitchener-Waterloo. Archived from the original on 17 March 2012.
- ^ "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. 2 October 2003. Archived from the original on 19 June 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
- ^ Pink, Dave (12 May 2005). "Region's candidates ready to go". The Record. Kitchener, Ont. p. A1.
- ^ Outhit, Jeff (5 May 2012). "Oberlander in top 10 of war crimes suspects". Waterloo Region Record. p. A1.
- ^ "Ontario conservative candidate criticized for tweet". Global News. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
- ^ "Wayne Wettlaufer, Ontario PC Candidate, Enrages Twitter With Comment". Huffington Post. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
- ^ Herhalt, Chris (15 April 2013). "Preparing for a provincial election: Local riding associations get ready in case spring budget is defeated, triggering vote". Waterloo Region Record. p. B1.
- ^ Herhalt, Chris (22 May 2014). "Local candidate contradicts PC's pledge for public sector job cuts". Waterloo Region Record. p. B6.
- ^ "General Election by District: Kitchener Centre". Elections Ontario. 12 June 2014. Archived from the original on 2 July 2014.
- ^ "Liberals secure big wins in Waterloo Region". CBC News. 13 June 2014.
- ^ Mercer, Greg (12 June 2014). "Vernile celebrates victory in rookie campaign". Waterloo Region Record. Archived from the original on 17 June 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
- ^ "Regional Councillor Wayne Wettlaufer dies at 71". CTV News. 21 June 2015.
- ^ "2014 Municipal Election Results: Regional Councillor" (PDF). City of Kitchener. p. 4.