Wayne Wettlaufer

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 (1943-12-16)December 16, 1943
Kitchener, Ontario
Died June 21, 2015(2015-06-21) (aged 71)
Waterloo, Ontario
Political party Progressive Conservative
Children 1
Residence Kitchener, Ontario
Occupation Insurance manager

Wayne Wettlaufer (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.

Background

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

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.[1] 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.[2] 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.[3][4] 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.[5] In the provincial election of 2003, Wettlaufer lost to Liberal candidate John Milloy by just over 2,000 votes.[6]

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.[7]

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."[8] 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".[9][10]

He was a candidate in the provincial election of 2014 in his old riding of Kitchener Centre.[11] 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.[12] He was defeated by Liberal candidate Daiene Vernile by 6,913 votes.[13][14][15]

He went on to be elected as a regional councillor for Kitchener in the 2014 election; he served less than a year in that seat before his death on June 21, 2015.[16]

Electoral record

Ontario general election, 2003
Party Candidate Votes % ±
LiberalJohn Milloy 18,280 42.60 +2.68
Progressive ConservativeWayne Wettlaufer 16,120 37.57 -12.58
New DemocraticTed Martin 6,781 15.80 +8.04
GreenLuigi D'agnillo 1,728 4.03 +2.78
Ontario general election, 1999
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Progressive ConservativeWayne Wettlaufer 22,593
LiberalBerry Vrbanovic 17,984
New DemocraticDavid Brohman 3,494
GreenSusan Koswan 561
Natural LifeRoy Anderson 204
IndIrvine Conner 109
Marxist–LeninistJulian Ichim 107
Ontario general election, 1995
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Progressive ConservativeWayne Wettlaufer 13,374
LiberalBryan Stortz 9,992
New DemocraticSandi Ellis 6,998
Family CoalitionLou Reitzel 2,111
IndBob Oberholtzer 612
IndFrank Kerek 223

References

  1. ↑ "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. June 8, 1995.
  2. ↑ Urquhart, Ian (June 3, 1999). "Analysis The key ridings to watch for clues to who's winning". Toronto Star. p. 1.
  3. ↑ "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. June 3, 1999. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  4. ↑ "Ontario Votes 2003". CBC News. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
  5. ↑ "German Pioneers Day". German-Canadian Business & Professional Association of Kitchener-Waterloo. Archived from the original on March 17, 2012.
  6. ↑ "Summary of Valid Ballots by Candidate". Elections Ontario. October 2, 2003. Retrieved 2014-03-02.
  7. ↑ Pink, Dave (May 12, 2005). "Region's candidates ready to go". The Record. Kitchener, Ont. p. A1.
  8. ↑ Outhit, Jeff (May 5, 2012). "Oberlander in top 10 of war crimes suspects". Waterloo Region Record. p. A1.
  9. ↑ "Ontario conservative candidate criticized for tweet". Global News. Retrieved 31 July 2013.
  10. ↑ "Wayne Wettlaufer, Ontario PC Candidate, Enrages Twitter With Comment". Huffington Post. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  11. ↑ Herhalt, Chris (April 15, 2013). "Preparing for a provincial election: Local riding associations get ready in case spring budget is defeated, triggering vote". Waterloo Region Record. p. B1.
  12. ↑ Herhalt, Chris (May 22, 2014). "Local candidate contradicts PC's pledge for public sector job cuts". Waterloo Region Record. p. B6.
  13. ↑ "General Election by District: Kitchener Centre". Elections Ontario. June 12, 2014. Archived from the original on July 2, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Liberals secure big wins in Waterloo Region". CBC News. June 13, 2014.
  15. ↑ Mercer, Greg (June 12, 2014). "Vernile celebrates victory in rookie campaign". Waterloo Region Record. Archived from the original on June 17, 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
  16. ↑ "Regional Councillor Wayne Wettlaufer dies at 71". CTV News. June 21, 2015.
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