Gary Albert Filmon

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Gary Albert Filmon
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Engineer, businessman, municipal official MLA (1977-1981), MLA (1982-1986), MLA (1986-1988), MLA (1988-1990), Premier of Manitoba (1988-1999), MLA (1990-1995), MLA (1995-1999), MLA (1999-2000).

Born at the St. Boniface Hospital on 24 August 1942, son of Albin “Albert” Filimon (1906-1977) and Nancy Doskocz (1914-1973), he attended Sisler High School and received baccalaureat and Masters degrees in engineering from the University of Manitoba. After working for a time with the engineering firm of Underwood McLellan and Associates, he became the proprietor of Success Commercial College and several other Winnipeg businesses.

He served on the Winnipeg city council (1976-1979) before being elected to the Manitoba Legislature in an October 1979 by-election and was re-elected in 1981, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1995, and 1999. He served as leader of the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party from 1983 until his retirement from politics in 2000, and was Premier of Manitoba from 1988 to 1999.

On 9 November 1963, he married Janice Clare Wainwright with whom he had four children.

Among his community activities, he has served as President of the University of Manitoba Alumni Association, President of the Association of Canadian Career Colleges, Member of the Senate of the University of Manitoba, Director of the Administrative Management Society, and Director of the Red River Exhibition Board. In recognition of his community service, he received the Merit Award of the Association of Professional Engineers of Manitoba (1991), Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (2002) and Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012). He was inducted into the Order of Manitoba (2001) and the Order of Canada (2009), and he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Manitoba (2011).

See also:

“Gary Filmon, 1988-1999 ” by Gregory Marchildon in Manitoba Premiers of the 19th and 20th Centuries, edited by Barry Ferguson and Robert Wardhaugh, Canadian Plains Research Centre, 2010.

Yes We Did: Leading in Turbulent Times by Gary Filmon, Winnipeg: Heartland Associates, 2021.

Sources:

“Filmon - Wainwright,” Winnipeg Free Press, 30 November 1963, page 16.

Obituary [Nancy Filmon], Winnipeg Free Press, 5 November 1973, page 14.

Obituary [Albert Filmon], Winnipeg Free Press, 10 May 1977, page 30.

Obituaries and burial transcriptions, Manitoba Genealogical Society.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 19 November 2023