Hugh McFadyen

Hugh Daniel McFadyen (born 31 May 1967) is a lawyer and politician in Manitoba, Canada.

McFadyen was a successful curler in his youth, and skipped his team to a Canadian Junior Championship in 1986.

This win qualified them for the 1987 World Junior Curling Championships where they won a silver medal, losing to Scotland's Douglas Dryburgh.

McFadyen holds Bachelor of Arts (1990) and Bachelor of Laws (1993) degrees from the University of Manitoba.

He was a researcher for the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba in the mid-1990s, and was appointed principal secretary to Premier Gary Filmon following Taras Sokolyk's resignation in September 1998 following the Aboriginal vote splitting scandal.

McFadyen's third, Jon Mead, would go on to play for Jeff Stoughton, while his second, Norman Gould, went on to curling success in Japan followed by coaching the 1996 Jeff Stoughton World Championship Curling Team.

McFadyen represented Filmon as an observer to the federal United Alternative convention, and was deputy campaign manager for the Progressive Conservatives in the 1999 provincial election.

The Progressive Conservatives lost the 1999 election, and McFadyen's position in the Office of the Premier ended with the Filmon government's resignation shortly thereafter.

He subsequently practiced law for two years in London, UK with Clifford Chance LLP, did post-graduate work at University College London, and worked for a consulting firm in Toronto.

He returned to Manitoba in 2003, and joined the firm Aikins, MacAulay & Thorvaldson.

The Progressive Conservatives were the Official Opposition party in this period, having lost a second election to the New Democratic Party under Gary Doer in 2003.

In early 2004, he became the Manitoba chair of Belinda Stronach's bid to lead the newly formed Conservative Party of Canada.

McFadyen managed Sam Katz's successful campaign to become Mayor of Winnipeg in mid-2004, in a municipal by-election that followed the resignation of Glen Murray.

Katz later appointed McFadyen as his senior political advisor.

McFadyen resigned as advisor to the mayor in May 2005, in order to seek the federal Conservative Party nomination for Winnipeg South.

He defeated rival candidate Rod Bruinooge by only twelve votes at the nomination meeting.

When the federal election was deferred, McFadyen was hired by provincial Progressive Conservative leader Stuart Murray as a consultant on urban issues.

Later in 2005, McFadyen resigned his federal nomination to seek the Progressive Conservative nomination for a provincial by-election in Fort Whyte.

He was supported by Gary Filmon, and again defeated Bruinooge for the nomination.

Fort Whyte is a safe Progressive Conservative seat, and McFadyen was elected without difficulty in December.

Stuart Murray announced his resignation as Progressive Conservative leader in November 2005, after receiving a lukewarm endorsement at the party's annual convention.

McFadyen was soon mentioned as a possible successor, even before his election to the legislature.

From 2006 to 2012, he was the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba, and Leader of the Opposition in the Manitoba legislature.

In February 2006, he became the first candidate to officially declare for the party leadership.

His campaign was supported by fourteen MLAs, including Jack Reimer, Kelvin Goertzen and Cliff Cullen, as well as former cabinet ministers Rosemary Vodrey, David Newman, Jim Downey and Shirley Render.

He defeated rival candidates Ron Schuler and Ken Waddell on 29 April 2006.

McFadyen's first months as party leader were successful.

The Progressive Conservatives surpassed the NDP in public opinion polls in June 2006, for the first time since 1999.

McFadyen strongly criticized the Doer government over its alleged failure to protect investors from the failure of the Crocus Investment Fund, and launched a party task force into the matter headed by former cabinet minister Don Orchard.

He also advocated fixed provincial election dates, and accused Doer of failing to keep an earlier pledge to end "hallway medicine" in the province.

In late 2006, McFadyen reversed his party's former position and promised to continue Manitoba's tuition freeze if elected as Premier.

He also promised compensation for investors in the Crocus fund and financial incentives for Manitobans buying energy-efficient cars, raised the prospect of sharing the provincial sales tax with cities, and argued that parents who allow their children to wander the streets at night should be held responsible if their children commit crimes.

During a speech in September 2006, McFadyen described the former New Democratic Party government of Howard Pawley as having been influenced by communism.

This statement was widely criticized, and Pawley described it as "fallacious and ridiculous".

McFadyen initially refused to withdraw the accusation, and said that there had been card-carrying members of the Communist Party in Pawley's government.

Following his party's loss in the 2011 election he announced that he would resign as leader as soon as a new leader is appointed.

McFadyen officially resigned on 30 July 2012.

McFadyen was born in Selkirk, Manitoba.

His aunt Linda McIntosh was a cabinet minister in the provincial government of Gary Filmon, and his great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather were also members of the Manitoba legislature.

He has said that former Manitoba Premier Duff Roblin is his political hero.