Nicholas Bachynsky

Who was Nicholas Bachynsky?

Nicholas Volodymir Bachynsky was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1922 to 1958, and was Speaker of the Assembly for most of Douglas Campbell's administration.

Bachynsky came to Canada in 1904 and to Manitoba in 1909. He was educated in Galicia. Bachynsky attended teacher's college in Brandon and worked as a teacher before entering politics. In 1920, he married Julia Wlasinuk.

He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 1922 provincial election. Campaigning as a member of the United Farmers of Manitoba, he defeated the incumbent member, independent Henry L. Mabb, by a margin of 581 votes to 354 in the constituency of Fisher. After the election, the UFM formed government as the Progressive Party, and Bachynsky became a backbench supporter of John Bracken's administration.

Bachynsky again defeated Mabb, who was by this time identifying himself as a Conservative, in the 1927 election. He was again returned with comfortable margins in the elections of 1932 and 1936, now identifying himself as a Liberal-Progressive after an alliance between the province's Liberal and Progressive parties.