Даниэль Вандаль: от бокса до федерального министра Канады

Canadian politician

Daniel Vandal (born April 18, 1960) is a Métis Canadian politician in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He represented St. Boniface on the Winnipeg City Council from 1995 to 2004 and from 2006 to 2014, and ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Winnipeg in 2004, coming in second to Sam Katz. He briefly served as acting mayor of Winnipeg following Glen Murray's resignation. On October 19, 2015, he was elected as the Member of Parliament for Saint Boniface—Saint Vital in the House of Commons of Canada. He is a member of the Liberal Party of Canada and as of November 20, 2019 serves as the Federal Minister of Northern Affairs in Justin Trudeau's cabinet. On October 26, 2021, he was also named Minister responsible for the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency and Minister responsible for the Prairies Economic Development Agency of Canada.

Vandal was born on April 18, 1960 to a Métis family in Winnipeg, the youngest of eight children. His family identified as French Canadian during his youth, and he only became aware of his Métis heritage in later life. Vandal dropped out of high school, and was a manual labourer for part of his teenage years. He started boxing at age 15, turned professional in 1978, and was the #1 ranked Canadian middleweight in 1983. The following year, he fought Alex Hilton for the Canadian title in front of 18,000 fans at the Montreal Forum. He later credited boxing for turning his life around, and has opposed efforts to ban the sport. Vandal subsequently became a youth worker at Winnipeg's Mamawiwichiitata Centre, and received a degree in Social Work from the University of Manitoba. He was vice president of the Old St. Boniface Residents Association in the 1990s, and campaigned against the proposed construction of a stadium for Sam Katz's Winnipeg Goldeyes baseball team in Whittier Park.

Glen Murray announced his resignation as mayor of Winnipeg on May 11, 2004, stepping down in mid term to run for a seat in the House of Commons of Canada. Vandal served as acting mayor until May 14, when he resigned his St. Boniface seat to officially seek election as Murray's successor. He appointed Jae Eadie to the position of deputy mayor before resigning, which meant that Eadie served as acting mayor during the campaign. Vandal ran on his record of accomplishment in Glen Murray's administration, while indicating that he would run the city in a different style. He promised $4.4 million annually in new spending, a downtown housing tax credit and productivity reinvestment tax credit, doubling the city's arts funding, and the creation of a new municipal holiday to celebrate the city's heritage. His campaign launch was introduced by Tina Keeper, and his supporters included John Angus, Jenny Gerbasi, Lillian Thomas and Mary Richard, as well as the Winnipeg Labour Council and local anti poverty activists. Despite a strong start, his campaign was hurt by the late entry of MaryAnn Mihychuk, whose candidacy split the centre left vote. Some argued that Vandal also had difficulty presenting himself as a strong leader. He ultimately finished second against Sam Katz. Shortly after the election, Vandal was hired by the province to administer a $75 million urban development agreement for Winnipeg's inner city. He later became a project officer with the aboriginal affairs committee of the provincial cabinet.

Vandal was re elected to the Winnipeg City Council for St. Boniface in the 2006 municipal election over incumbent Franco Magnifico, who had taken the seat after Vandal stepped down in 2004. The contest was expected to be close, but Vandal won by a significant margin. By this time, he once again identified as a member of the New Democratic Party. Sam Katz was re elected as mayor. Vandal was appointed to the Winnipeg Housing Steering Committee in March 2007, and also sits on the property and planning committee. In early 2007, he wrote an opinion piece for the Winnipeg Free Press calling for a reduction in property taxes rather than the business tax cut favoured by Katz. He argued that a business tax cut would drive up property rates, citing precedents in several other North American cities. Vandal has also criticized Katz and council for not moving forward with educational and employment opportunities for aboriginal youth, despite having allocated funds for such programs. Vandal emerged as one of Sam Katz's most prominent council opponents in late 2007 and 2008. He was a vocal critic of Katz's water and sewer rate increases in late 2007, and accused the mayor of diverting the increased funds into general revenue to pay for his business tax cuts. (Following criticism, Katz agreed to stop the funding diversion by 2009. Some political observers described this as the first serious setback to Katz's control over council after the 2006 election.) Vandal later opposed Katz's plan for a private public partnership to repair Winnipeg's Disraeli Bridge and Freeway. Vandal called for a public inquiry into the finances Riverside Park Management in late 2008, after the city erased $233,000 from the organization's back taxes. The Riverside group is closely linked to Katz's baseball team, and Vandal and others have raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest situation and Riverside's status as a non profit organization. In late 2007, Vandal helped create a new city park named after Elzéar Goulet, who was a member of Louis Riel's provisional government in 1869 70. He later helped preserve a provincial historical site at Upper Fort Garry against opposition from Mayor Katz and developers. As one of his last acts as councilor in September 2014, Vandal instigated a two part motion to address the plight of abducted vulnerable women nationwide, particularly Native women. The motion calls for: the city to support the growing nationwide body of advocates including party leaders and advocates and Winnipeg, and provincial governments demanding a Federal inquiry into the plight of abducted and murdered women. The motion also calls for greater support for the Winnipeg Police to protect and socially support the recovery of vulnerable women of Winnipeg. The motion was passed with a vote of 14–1 on September 24, 2014 and Winnipeg the first major municipality to join the body of advocates. Outgoing mayor Sam Katz amended the proposition to include $150K to support an aboriginal youth drop in center. Vandal believes that this position will help open a dialog and advocate for the reforms to enhance protection of vulnerable women by giving them a voice.

Vandal stated that he would not run for re election in 2014 and would instead run as the federal Liberal candidate in Saint Boniface—Saint Vital in the next federal election. Within a day of the writ drop, Vandal was endorsed by the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg president Alex Forrest. Having represented most of the territory covered by the riding for the better part of two decades, Vandal was considered a strong candidate. His chances significantly increased when Conservative incumbent Shelly Glover announced she would not run for reelection. While Glover had held the riding for two terms, it was ancestrally a Liberal one. Vandal won easily as part of the Liberals' near sweep of Winnipeg, and was reelected almost as easily in 2021. He is the current Minister of Northern Affairs and Minister responsible for two Regional Development Agencies: the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) and the Prairies Economic Development Agency of Canada (PrairiesCan).

+ 2010 Winnipeg municipal election, City Councillor, St. Boniface Ward Candidate Vote %(x) Dan Vandal15,242 82.2Christopher Watt3,291 17.8