Neil Gaudry

Who was Neil Gaudry?

Neil Gaudry was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1988 until his death, sitting as a Liberal.

Before entering public life, Gaudry worked as an accountant and office manager. He was the secretary-treasurer of Malcolm Construction Ltd. for twenty-five years, and was active in the community of Interlake before moving to Winnipeg in his later years.

Gaudry was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the provincial election of 1988, in the Winnipeg riding of St. Boniface. This historically francophone riding had been represented by Laurent Desjardins almost continuously since 1959; originally a Liberal, Desjardins crossed to the New Democratic Party in 1969 and was re-elected four times under that party's banner. Desjardins retired in 1988 when the Manitoba NDP was experiencing a sharp decline in popularity, and Gaudry recaptured St. Boniface for the Liberals with well over 50% of the vote. The election was won by the Progressive Conservatives, and Gaudry joined 19 other Liberals in the official opposition.

Gaudry was easily elected again in the 1990 election, with only a slightly reduced plurality. His share of the popular vote fell to below 50% in the provincial election of 1995, but he was still re-elected fairly easily, despite the Liberals winning only two other seats in the rest of the province.