William Hutton (Manitoba politician)
Encyclopedia
The Rev. William John Hutton is a clergyman, community activist and former politician in Manitoba
, Canada
. He was one of the last members of the Metropolitan Council of Greater Winnipeg
, serving from 1969 until its dissolution at the end of 1971.
in the 1960s, and worked as a high school guidance counsellor in the same period. He later co-founded the Jocelyn House for the terminally ill, and has been an honourary assistant at Winnipeg's St. Michael and All Angels Church for many years.
(NDP) in the 1966 provincial election
, and finished third against Progressive Conservative
candidate Donald Craik
in the central Winnipeg division of St. Vital. He was later the federal New Democratic Party
's candidate for Winnipeg South
in the 1968 Canadian general election
, and placed third against Liberal
James Richardson
. He sought the provincial NDP's nomination for a 1971 by-election
in St. Vital, but lost to Jim Walding
.
Hutton was elected to the Metropolitan Council of Greater Winnipeg in the 1968 Winnipeg election
, winning as an NDP candidate in the ninth ward. Veteran NDP politician Lloyd Stinson
described Hutton's victory as unexpected, and described Hutton as "young, enthusiastic and controversial". He ran for mayor of the unified city of Winnipeg
in the 1971 municipal election
, but finished a distant third against Stephen Juba
.
Hutton was a vocal opponent of the Manitoba's government decision to establish official English-French bilingualism in the early 1980s. He argued that this would not reflect Manitoba's multicultural status, and would instead create "a lopsided bicultural province, where on one side of the coin there exists a small, powerful, monolithic French ethnolinguistic community and on the other side a heterogeneous, multicultural polyglot collection of assorted ethnic and linguistic communities". Hutton further argued that entrenching French-language services would encourage cultural and political separatism, and that he opposed it in the same way that he opposed the Parti Québécois
's campaign for an independent Quebec. Unlike some other opponents of bilingualism, Hutton was himself fluent in French and supported a strong francophone presence within Canada.
Hutton was councillor Harvey Smith
's campaign manager in the 1998 Winnipeg municipal election
, and supported Glen Murray's successful bid to become mayor. He later broke with Murray, due in part to the mayor's treatment of downtown development issues.
Hutton traveled to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1996, and appealed for overseas sponsors of Serb children whose lives had been disrupted by the country's wars of secession. He was later a vocal opponent of the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
, and argued that Kosovo's Serb population was being "ethnically cleansed
" by Albanians who wanted to make Kosovo an Albanian province. He noted that NATO bombed several industrial buildings in Kosovo
that released dangerous chemicals into the air, and added "[t]here are people that are going to be very cold this winter because we blew up the heating plants in Belgrade
".
Federal
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 one of the last members of the Metropolitan Council of Greater Winnipeg
Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg
In 1960, the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg was created as a separate layer of municipal government in the metropolitan area of Winnipeg, Manitoba...
, serving from 1969 until its dissolution at the end of 1971.
Clergyman
Hutton was ordained as a minister in the Anglican Church of CanadaAnglican Church of Canada
The Anglican Church of Canada is the Province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French name is l'Église Anglicane du Canada. The ACC is the third largest church in Canada after the Roman Catholic Church and the United Church of Canada, consisting of 800,000 registered members...
in the 1960s, and worked as a high school guidance counsellor in the same period. He later co-founded the Jocelyn House for the terminally ill, and has been an honourary assistant at Winnipeg's St. Michael and All Angels Church for many years.
Politician
Hutton was a candidate of the New Democratic Party of ManitobaNew 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) in the 1966 provincial election
Manitoba general election, 1966
The Manitoba general election held on June 23, 1966, was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It resulted in a third consecutive majority win for the Progressive Conservative Party led by Dufferin Roblin...
, and finished third against Progressive Conservative
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:...
candidate Donald Craik
Donald Craik
Donald Craik was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1966 to 1981, and served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Walter Weir and Sterling Lyon.Born in Baldur, Manitoba, Craik was educated at the...
in the central Winnipeg division of St. Vital. He was later the federal New Democratic Party
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...
's candidate for Winnipeg South
Winnipeg South
Winnipeg South is a Canadian federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1917 to 1979, and since 1988. It covers the south of the city of Winnipeg...
in the 1968 Canadian general election
Canadian federal election, 1968
The Canadian federal election of 1968 was held on June 25, 1968, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 28th Parliament of Canada...
, and placed third against Liberal
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
James Richardson
James Armstrong Richardson
James Armstrong Richardson, PC was a Canadian Cabinet minister under Pierre Trudeau, and a Winnipeg businessman....
. He sought the provincial NDP's nomination for a 1971 by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
in St. Vital, but lost to Jim Walding
Jim Walding
Derek James "Jim" Walding was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1971 to 1988, and served as speaker of the assembly from 1982 to 1986. Walding was a member of the New Democratic Party...
.
Hutton was elected to the Metropolitan Council of Greater Winnipeg in the 1968 Winnipeg election
Winnipeg municipal election, 1968
The 1968 Winnipeg municipal election was held on October 23, 1968 to elect mayors, councillors and school trustees in the City of Winnipeg, the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg, and the city's suburban communities...
, winning as an NDP candidate in the ninth ward. Veteran NDP politician Lloyd Stinson
Lloyd Stinson
Lloyd Stinson was a politician in Manitoba, Canada, and the leader of that province's Co-operative Commonwealth Federation from 1953 to 1959. Although widely regarded as a capable leader, he was unable to achieve a major electoral breakthrough for his party.Stinson was born in Treherne,...
described Hutton's victory as unexpected, and described Hutton as "young, enthusiastic and controversial". He ran for mayor of the unified city of 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...
in the 1971 municipal election
Winnipeg municipal election, 1971
The 1971 Winnipeg municipal election was held in October 1971 to elect a mayor, councillors and school trustees in the City of Winnipeg. This was the first municipal election to take place after the amalgamation of Winnipeg with its suburban communities. Stephen Juba, who was the last mayor of...
, but finished a distant third against Stephen Juba
Stephen Juba
Stephen Juba, OC was a Canadian politician. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1953 to 1959, and served as the 37th Mayor of Winnipeg from 1957 to 1977. He was the first Ukrainian Canadian to hold high political office in the city.Juba left school at age fifteen, when...
.
Hutton was a vocal opponent of the Manitoba's government decision to establish official English-French bilingualism in the early 1980s. He argued that this would not reflect Manitoba's multicultural status, and would instead create "a lopsided bicultural province, where on one side of the coin there exists a small, powerful, monolithic French ethnolinguistic community and on the other side a heterogeneous, multicultural polyglot collection of assorted ethnic and linguistic communities". Hutton further argued that entrenching French-language services would encourage cultural and political separatism, and that he opposed it in the same way that he opposed the Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...
's campaign for an independent Quebec. Unlike some other opponents of bilingualism, Hutton was himself fluent in French and supported a strong francophone presence within Canada.
Hutton was councillor Harvey Smith
Harvey Smith (politician)
Harvey Smith is a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was born in British Columbia and first became involved in politics at age twelve, joining that province's Social Credit Party when it was still a fringe organization....
's campaign manager in the 1998 Winnipeg municipal election
Winnipeg municipal election, 1998
The 1998 Winnipeg municipal election was held on October 28, 1998 to elect a mayor, councillors and school trustees in the city of Winnipeg.Centre-left candidate Glen Murray defeated populist right-winger Peter Kaufmann in the mayoral contest.-Councillors:...
, and supported Glen Murray's successful bid to become mayor. He later broke with Murray, due in part to the mayor's treatment of downtown development issues.
Activist
Hutton opposed the construction of a hockey arena in downtown Winnipeg in the late 1990s and early 2000s, arguing that it would be detrimental to the city. He argued that a multi-sport facility should instead be built east of Main Street. He also opposed the creation of a drug treatment centre in Winnipeg's Central Park area, arguing that it had only recently shed its reputation as a drug- and crime-invested region.Hutton traveled to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1996, and appealed for overseas sponsors of Serb children whose lives had been disrupted by the country's wars of secession. He was later a vocal opponent of the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia was NATO's military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The strikes lasted from March 24, 1999 to June 10, 1999...
, and argued that Kosovo's Serb population was being "ethnically cleansed
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
" by Albanians who wanted to make Kosovo an Albanian province. He noted that NATO bombed several industrial buildings in Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
that released dangerous chemicals into the air, and added "[t]here are people that are going to be very cold this winter because we blew up the heating plants in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
".
Electoral Record
MunicipalFederal