Accountant, commission chair.
Born at Winnipeg on 21 December 1907, one of nine children of Stanley Taraska (1873-1945) and Frances Piskorg (1879-1934), he attended St. John’s High School then he worked successively for the Excelsior Life Insurance Company (1942-1945), Commonwealth Construction Company (1945-1957), and McCurdy Supply Company.
He was an unsuccessful Liberal candidate at the federal (1945, 1949, 1953, and 1957) and provincial (1958) levels. He served on the Winnipeg city council (1951-1962) and chaired the Winnipeg School Board (1946-1947). In 1962 he served as financial chair of the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg. He was appointed a citizenship court judge in 1968. In 1971 he chaired the Electoral Boundaries Commission, which recommended the ward boundary system for a proposed regional government for Greater Winnipeg. In this task he sought to preserve the historical and cultural background of the city. He later chaired another commission which reviewed the City of Winnipeg Act, recommending in 1976 a parliamentary system for Unicity. In 1968 he was appointed a judge in the Court of Canadian Citizenship.
On 4 September 1937, he married Elinor Aniela Kalinski (1914-2003) at St. John Cantius Roman Catholic Church and they had three children. In recognition of his community service, he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great, he received a City of Winnipeg Community Service Award (1973), and he was inducted into the Order of Canada (1982) and Order of the Buffalo Hunt (1983).
He died at Winnipeg on 11 June 1984 and was buried in the Chapel Lawn Memorial Gardens.
Birth registration [Peter Stanislas Taraska], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Death registrations [Frances Taraska, Stanley Taraska], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Marriage registration [Peter Taraska, Aniela Kaliczak Kalinska], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“S. Taraska, retired C. P. fireman, dies,” Winnipeg Tribune, 18 June 1945, page 2.
“Former councillor dead at 76,” Winnipeg Free Press, 13 June 1984, page 14.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 16 June 1984, page 40.
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.
Obituary [Eleanor Aniela Taraska], Winnipeg Free Press, 8 February 2003.
Winnipeg School Division: Celebrating One Hundred Fifty Years, 1871-2021 by Winnipeg School Division, 2021.
We thank Sue Gibb for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 19 May 2025
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