View source for Jim Walding

{{short description|Canadian politician (1937–2007)}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}

{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = 
| name                = Jim Walding
| honorific-suffix    = 
| image               = 
| imagesize           = 
| smallimage          = <!--If this is specified, "image" should not be.-->
| alt                 = 
| caption             = 
| order               = 24th
| office              = Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
| term_start          = February 25, 1982
| term_end            = February 11, 1986
| predecessor         = [[Harry Graham (Manitoba politician)|Harry Graham]]
| successor           = [[Myrna Phillips]]
| office2             = Member of the [[Legislative Assembly of Manitoba]] for [[St. Vital (electoral district)|St. Vital]]
| term_start2         = April 5, 1971
| term_end2           = April 26, 1988
| predecessor2        = [[Jack Hardy (politician)|Jack Hardy]]
| successor2          = [[Bob Rose (Manitoba Liberal)|Bob Rose]]
| majority2           = 
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1937|05|09}}
| birth_place         = [[Rushden]], [[England]]
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|2007|04|23|1937|05|09}}
| death_place         = [[Manitoba]], Canada
| restingplace        = 
| restingplacecoordinates = 
| birthname           = 
| citizenship         = 
| nationality         = 
| party               = [[New Democratic Party of Manitoba|New Democratic Party]]
| otherparty          = <!--For additional political affiliations-->
| spouse              = Valerie
| partner             = <!--For those with a domestic partner and not married-->
| relations           = 
| children            = 3
| parents             = 
| residence           = 
| alma_mater          = 
| occupation          = 
| profession          = [[Optician]]
| cabinet             = 
| committees          = 
| portfolio           = 
| religion            = 
| signature           = 
| signature_alt       = 
| website             = 
| footnotes           = 
| blank1              = 
| data1               = 
| blank2              = 
| data2               = 
| blank3              = 
| data3               = 
| blank4              = 
| data4               = 
| blank5              = 
| data5               = <!--Military service-->
| nickname            = 
| allegiance          = 
| branch              = [[British Army]]
| serviceyears        = 
| rank                = 
| unit                = [[Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers]]
| commands            = 
| battles             = 
| awards              = 
| military_blank1     = 
| military_data1      = 
| military_blank2     = 
| military_data2      = 
| military_blank3     = 
| military_data3      = 
| military_blank4     = 
| military_data4      = 
| military_blank5     = 
| military_data5      = 
}}
'''Derek James "Jim" Walding''' (May 9, 1937 – April 23, 2007) 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 Legislative Assembly of Manitoba|speaker of the assembly]] from 1982 to 1986. Walding was a member of the [[New Democratic Party of Manitoba]] (NDP). In 1988, he brought down the NDP government of [[Howard Pawley]] by voting against his party's budget. That was the first time in [[Canadian history]] that a [[majority government]] was defeated by a vote of one of its own party members.

==Early life and career==
Walding was born at [[Rushden]], [[Northamptonshire]], [[England]], and was educated at [[Wellingborough School|Wellingborough Grammar School]]. He spent three years with the [[Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers]], including a stint in [[West Berlin]]. He moved to Canada in 1961 and worked in [[Winnipeg]] as a dispensing [[optician]] and [[contact lens]] fitter.<ref>Ian Stewart, ''Just One Vote: Jim Walding's nomination to constitutional defeat'', (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press), 2009, p. 27.</ref>

Walding had supported the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] in Britain. In 1963, joined the similar [[New Democratic Party of Manitoba|New Democratic Party]] in Canada and served on the party's provincial executive in the 1960s.<ref>Stewart, p. 27.</ref>

==Political career==
Walding first ran for the Manitoba legislature in the [[1969 Manitoba general election|1969 provincial election]]. He initially sought the NDP nomination in the northeastern Winnipeg division of [[Radisson (electoral district)|Radisson]], but he lost to [[Harry Shafransky]]. He was later recruited as the party's candidate for the nearby division of [[St. Vital (electoral district)|St. Vital]], and lost to [[Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba|Progressive Conservative]] candidate [[Jack Hardy (politician)|Jack Hardy]] by only 23 votes.<ref>Stewart, p. 27, 30.</ref>

Hardy resigned from the legislature in February 1971, and Walding was nominated as the NDP candidate for the by-election to succeed him.<ref>Walding defeated rival candidates Keith Huss and [[William Hutton (Manitoba politician)|Bill Hutton]] on the first ballot. Huss had been drafted by Harry Shafransky to challenge Walding, and Hutton had been the NDP candidate for St. Vital in the [[1966 Manitoba general election|1966 provincial election]].  See Stewart, p. 30.</ref>  He was narrowly elected, defeating [[Manitoba Liberal Party|Liberal]] candidate [[Daniel Kennedy (Manitoba judge)|Dan Kennedy]] by 295 votes. The result, along with another by-election win on the same day, gave [[Premier of Manitoba|Premier]] [[Edward Schreyer]] a stable [[majority government]] in the provincial legislature.  Walding served as a [[backbench]] supporter of the Schreyer government and developed a strong reputation for constituency work. He also chaired the private bills committee of the legislature and gave up his practice as an optician.<ref>Stewart, p. 32.</ref>

Walding voted against Schreyer's decision to extend public funding to denominational schools in a [[free vote]] of the legislature.<ref>Herb Schultz, '' A View from the Ledge: An Insider's Look at the Schreyer Years'', (Winnipeg: Heartland Associates Inc.), 2006, p. 118.</ref>  He faced a serious challenge from Kennedy in the [[1973 Manitoba general election|1973 election]] but won by 105 votes.

The New Democrats were defeated in the [[1977 Manitoba general election|1977 provincial election]] although Walding was personally re-elected with an increased plurality. After Schreyer's appointment as [[Governor General of Canada]] in 1979, Walding endorsed [[Sidney Green (politician)|Sidney Green]] in his unsuccessful bid to become interim NDP leader. He later supported Pawley, the successful candidate, at the party's leadership convention.

The NDP returned to government in the [[1981 Manitoba general election|1981 provincial election]]. Walding was not appointed to cabinet, as some had expected. Instead, Pawley appointed him as speaker of the legislature on February 25, 1982. Over the next four years, his relationship with Pawley became increasingly strained.

In 1983 and 1984, Walding allowed the opposition Progressive Conservatives to stall passage of the Pawley government's re-entrenchment of French-language rights.  Initially, the Conservatives refused to enter the chamber to vote on the legislation, and Walding refused to call a vote in their absence. As a result, the [[division bell]]s were allowed to ring for several hours at the end of each legislative day.  When NDP cabinet minister [[Andy Anstett]] restricted the amount of time that the bells could ring, the Conservatives boycotted the assembly entirely. Walding still refused to call a vote. On February 21, 1984, he refused a direct request from Pawley to move the legislative agenda forward. The house was eventually prorogued with the issue still unresolved.

Many questioned the validity of Walding's decision. Sidney Green, who had left the NDP by then and also opposed French-language re-entrenchment, still argued that Walding was wrong to give the Conservatives a means to disrupt the legislative process. Walding's actions made him extremely unpopular with some segments of his party. He was challenged for the St. Vital NDP nomination in 1986 by Gerri Unwin and Sig Laser, and he defeated Laser by a single vote on the second ballot.

Walding was re-elected in the [[1986 Manitoba general election|general election of 1986]] with a reduced majority. The NDP was re-elected with a narrow majority government, and Pawley did not reappoint Walding as speaker.

As a backbencher, Walding spoke out against the Pawley government on several issues. He was particularly opposed to [[affirmative action]] legislation, which he regarded as discriminatory.

Walding voted for an opposition amendment to his party's budget on March 8, 1988, despite having assured [[Minister of Finance (Manitoba)|Finance Minister]] [[Eugene Kostyra]] that he would support it. Earlier in the year, longtime cabinet minister [[Laurent Desjardins]] had essentially ceased attending legislative sessions. As a result, Walding's defection toppled the Pawley government. The NDP was roundly defeated in the general election that followed, in which Walding was not a candidate.

==Death and legacy==
He died at 69 after a short battle with cancer in 2007. He was survived by his wife, Valerie (who passed in 2020), and their children, Andrew, Phillip and Christine.

Ian Stewart has written a book about Walding's political career, ''Just One Vote: Jim Walding's nomination to constitutional defeat'' (2009). Stewart argues that Walding's 1986 nomination victory set in motion a series of events that led to the defeat of the [[Meech Lake Accord]] on constitutional reform.<ref>Ian Stewart, p. 2.</ref>

==Electoral record==

{{1986 Manitoba general election/St. Vital}}

{{1981 Manitoba general election/St. Vital}}

{{1977 Manitoba general election/St. Vital}}

{{1973 Manitoba general election/St. Vital}}

{{1971 Manitoba provincial by-elections/St. Vital}}

{{1969 Manitoba general election/St. Vital}}

==References==
<references/>

==Sources==
Lambert, Geoffrey. "Manitoba," ''Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs'', 1988, pp 252–260.

Stewart, Ian. ''Just One Vote: From Jim Walding's Nomination to Constitutional Defeat'' (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2009).

==External links==
*[http://www.passagesmb.com/obituary_details.cfm?ObitID=119712 Obituary in the Winnipeg Free Press]

{{Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walding, Jim}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:2007 deaths]]
[[Category:New Democratic Party of Manitoba MLAs]]
[[Category:People from Rushden]]
[[Category:Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Manitoba]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba]]