Conrad Santos
Encyclopedia
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba and the lieutenant governor form the Legislature of Manitoba, the legislature of the Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly in provincial general elections, all in single-member constituencies with first-past-the-post...
from 1981 to 1988, and again from 1990 to 2007.
Santos was born in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
and was educated as Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, receiving a PhD in Political Science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
from the latter institution. He moved to Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
, Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 1965 after receiving a teaching position at the University of Manitoba
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...
, where he continues to serve as a faculty member. Santos has also worked as a consultant for the Instituto Centro-Americano de Administracion Publica in Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, and was a board member of the Citizenship Council of Manitoba from 1977 to 1980.
He sought the New Democratic Party of Manitoba
New Democratic Party of Manitoba
The New Democratic Party of Manitoba is a social-democratic political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is the provincial wing of the federal New Democratic Party, and is a successor to the Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...
(NDP) nomination for Fort Garry in the 1973 election
Manitoba general election, 1973
The Manitoba General Election of June 28, 1973 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It was won by the social-democratic New Democratic Party, which took 31 of 57 seats...
, but was defeated. He ran for the Winnipeg city council in 1977 and 1980, but lost both times.
Santos was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 1981 provincial election
Manitoba general election, 1981
The Manitoba general election of November 17, 1981 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It was won by the opposition New Democratic Party, which took 34 of 57 seats. The governing Progressive Conservative Party took the remaining 23, while the...
as a New Democrat in the northwest Winnipeg riding of Burrows, defeating NDP-turned-Progressive Member of the Legislative Assembly
Member of the Legislative Assembly
A Member of the Legislative Assembly or a Member of the Legislature , is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to the legislature or legislative assembly of a sub-national jurisdiction....
(MLA) Ben Hanuschak
Ben Hanuschak
Ben Hanuschak is a Manitoba politician. He was a cabinet minister in the government of New Democratic Premier Edward Schreyer, and was subsequently a founding member of the Progressive Party of Manitoba....
. He was re-elected in the 1986 election
Manitoba general election, 1986
The Manitoba general election of March 18, 1986 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It was won by the New Democratic Party, which took 30 seats out of 57. The Progressive Conservative Party won 26 seats and formed the official opposition...
. In June 1984, there were unconfirmed rumours that he was considering a move to the Progressive Conservative Party
Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba
The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba is the only right wing political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is also the official opposition party in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.-Origins and early years:...
.
Santos lost the Burrows NDP nomination to Doug Martindale
Doug Martindale
Doug Martindale is a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba since 1990, serving as a member of the New Democratic Party.-Early life and career:...
in 1988, and subsequently entered the party's leadership election. He was not regarded as a prominent candidate, and received only five votes on the first ballot. He ran for mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Winnipeg in 1989, and finished a distant fourth.
In 1990, Santos won the NDP nomination for Broadway by a single vote over Marianne Cerilli
Marianne Cerilli
Marianne Cerilli is a politician in Manitoba, Canada. She served as a New Democratic member of the Manitoba legislature from 1990 until 2003, though she was not called to cabinet when the party formed government in 1999....
, whose candidacy was supported by the party leadership. He defeated Liberal
Manitoba Liberal Party
The Manitoba Liberal Party is a political party in Manitoba, Canada. Its roots can be traced to the late nineteenth-century, following the province's creation in 1870.-Origins and early development :...
incumbent Avis Gray
Avis Gray
Avis Gray is a politician in Manitoba, Canada. She was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1992 to 1995.Gray was born in Virden, Manitoba, and was educated at the University of Manitoba...
in the 1990 general election
Manitoba general election, 1990
The Manitoba general election of September 11, 1990 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It was won by the Progressive Conservative Party, which took 30 out of 57 seats...
, and was re-elected in the 1995 election
Manitoba general election, 1995
The Manitoba general election of April 25,1995 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It was won by the Progressive Conservative Party, which won 31 seats out of 57...
. In 1995, he endorsed Lorne Nystrom
Lorne Nystrom
Lorne Edmund Nystrom, PC a Canadian politician, was a member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1968 to 1993 when he lost his reelection bid. He returned to parliament in 1997 and served until 2004...
's bid to lead the federal NDP
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
.
When the Broadway riding was eliminated by redistribution in 1999, Santos won the NDP nomination in Wellington (also in Winnipeg's northwest), and was returned by a wide margin in the 1999 provincial election
Manitoba general election, 1999
The Manitoba general election of September 21, 1999 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada....
. He was again re-elected in the 2003 election
Manitoba general election, 2003
The Manitoba general election held on June 3, 2003 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It was won by the New Democratic Party, which won 35 seats out of 57. The Progressive Conservative Party finished second with twenty seats...
.
Santos was named Deputy Speaker
Speaker (politics)
The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...
after the elections of 1986 and 1999.
Santos left the New Democratic Party caucus shortly before the 2007 provincial election
Manitoba general election, 2007
The Manitoba general election held on May 22, 2007 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It was won by the New Democratic Party, which won 36 seats out of 57. The Progressive Conservative Party finished second with nineteen seats. The Liberal...
after being accused of improperly selling party membership cards. He campaigned as an independent, and finished last in a field of five candidates. He later pleaded guilty to paying the membership fees of as many as one hundred new party members, during the time when he was trying to retain his nomination. He was fined $200 under the provincial Election Finances Act, as well as court fees of $150. His lawyer argued that Santos was simply trying to help his low-income supporters, saying that the MLA "didn't have the heart" to request membership fees from people who were unable to feed their families.