Cornelius Wiebe

Who was Cornelius Wiebe?

Cornelius W. Wiebe, CM was a Canadian physician and politician.

Wiebe was born to a Mennonite family in Altona, Manitoba. He was educated at Wesley College, the University of Manitoba and the Manitoba Medical College, receiving his MD in 1925. He practiced family medicine in Winkler, Manitoba from 1925 to 1978, and, according to local tradition, continued to practice on an informal basis after his retirement. Over the course of 53 years, he delivered over 6,000 babies.

A member of the Liberal Party, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in the 1932 provincial election, defeating Conservative incumbent Hugh McGavin by 447 votes in the Morden and Rhineland constituency. A coalition of Liberals and Progressives won this election, and Wiebe served as a backbench supporter of John Bracken's coalition government for the next four years.

Wiebe was the first Mennonite to serve in the Manitoba legislature. He did not seek re-election in 1936. Though his own political career was brief, he remained a lifetime supporter of the merged Liberal-Progressive Party and its successor, the Manitoba Liberal Party.