Multiple campaigns, lots of controversy, no victories ‘I’m a winner,’ Woodstock proclaims during sixth bid for public office By: Carol Sanders Posted: 11:41 AM CDT Friday, Oct. 7, 2022

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This article was published 06/10/2022 (810 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Perennial election candidate Don Woodstock is hoping the sixth time is the charm.

After running unsuccessfully in two provincial races, one attempt to win a seat in Parliament and another to become a city councillor, the familiar face on the campaign trail is hoping his second bid to become Winnipeg’s mayor is triumphant.

No matter what happens when the ballots are counted on Oct. 26, the Jamaica-born candidate who immigrated in 1995 believes that his prayer: “Lord, give me the wisdom to bring forth the issues that will make the changes necessary to improve the quality of life of the people,” has been answered

Changes that he’s advocated for since he first ran for office in 2011 for the provincial Liberals in Minto have occurred, and Woodstock sees that as an affirmation and a personal triumph.

“I’m a winner,” he said in an interview at his campaign office overlooking Confusion Corner. His self-assessment came minutes after he was served with a statement of claim alleging he defamed a rival candidate’s brother at one debate and two weeks before receiving death threats for making offensive remarks about Indigenous men at another.

Woodstock, who has lived in Winnipeg since 1999, thrives on controversy and publicity — good and bad.

In 2009, before running for office, the opponent of plastic shopping bags strung 44,000 of them across the grounds of the Legislative Building.

“They said I am defacing the legislature grounds. I said, ‘No, we are defacing the environment every time we use plastic bags,’” he recalled, pointing to the fact that plastic shopping bags are now hard to find, and most people expect to use their own reusable bags.

On April 20, 2013 — between election campaigns — Woodstock was back at the legislature grounds, this time circulating a petition on “420” to legalize marijuana.

“I want to get 10,000 signatures,” Woodstock told the Free Press at the time. In 2018, Canada became the first G20 country to legalize the sale of recreational cannabis.

While Woodstock can’t take credit for getting rid of plastic bags or legalizing pot, he credits himself for raising the issues in Winnipeg and making them politically relevant.

“We managed to get all that done and I’ve never been elected,” he said.

The “we” he’s referring to is Kathy Harris, his wife, business partner and most ardent supporter.

“I am so happy that I have my wife here who supports me,” he said.

Harris met Woodstock when they were both Winnipeg Transit drivers. They own a Winnipeg security company and have two children.

She said she likes his ideas and will support his bids for public office until he wins a seat.

“Once he has the ability to show people things can be done in a different way, it’s going to be a new era,” she said.

Woodstock has been making headlines for years, not just for his activism but for riling other candidates on the campaign trail.

At a candidates’ debate in 2015, Woodstock, who was running federally for the Green Party, accused incumbent New Democrat MP Pat Martin of not paying attention to the mental-health problems facing his constituents.

There was a heated exchange between the two candidates, and Martin was heard calling Woodstock a “son of a bitch.”

During that campaign, Woodstock caused a stir for wearing an “Order of Canadians” medal that resembled the Order of Canada medal, the highest honour bestowed on a citizen of the country. Woodstock said he received his medal from a similar-sounding “Order of Canadians” group for his volunteer work with a local neighbourhood safety patrol.

Wielding a broom and promising to make “clean sweep” of city hall at his campaign launch, Woodstock has drawn a significant number of so-called “freedom convoy” supporters into his corner.

One of his campaign volunteers is Patrick Allard, one of five people convicted in August of repeatedly violating public-health restrictions imposed to limit the spread of COVID-19.

“I welcome his help, and other people who’ve come to help,” Woodstock said. Although opposed to COVID-19 vaccine mandates, he said he obeyed public-health rules and is vaccinated, but only because it was required for air travel and he needed to fly out of province for work.

“If I didn’t have to do that, I would not take the vaccine and I never would mandate anyone to take the vaccine.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca