Joe Borowski (politician)

Joseph P. (Joe) Borowski (December 12, 1933 – September 23, 1996) was a Canadian politician and activist. From 1969 to 1971, he was a cabinet minister in Manitoba Premier Edward Schreyer's New Democratic Party (NDP) government. Subsequently, he gained national fame for his opposition to abortion.

Borowski was born in Wishart, Saskatchewan, and was educated at Birchcreek School in that province. He subsequently moved to Sudbury, Ontario, and Thompson, Manitoba, to work as a miner and steelworker. Borowski was Vice-President of the United Steelworkers of America Local 6166 in 1964-65, and helped to win municipal incorporation for Thompson at around the same time. He retired from manual labour in his 30s, and became the owner of a gift shop.

Borowski became a public figure in Manitoba during the late 1960s, when he camped outside the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in extremely cold weather on two separate occasions. His first such action, in 1965, was intended as a protest against the lack of free municipal elections in Thompson. The following year, he stayed outside the legislature for sixty-five days to protest the pay increases awarded to Premier Roblin and his cabinet. His presence was a nuisance to many in government, and cabinet minister Stewart McLean eventually had him ejected from the legislative grounds. He was later arrested on three separate occasions for refusing to collect the provincial sales tax in his store.

Borowski had not been directly involved in politics prior to this experience. He had supported John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservatives for a time at the federal level, but was not directly involved in partisan politics, and does not appear to have contemplated running for public office. He had become a local celebrity through his protest, however, and was drafted by the Manitoba NDP to campaign in a February 1969 by-election in the northern riding of Churchill. He won the party's nomination over Archie Nabess, and defeated independent candidate Blain Johnston by sixteen votes (confirmed by a recount) in the general election. He returned to the legislature in March 1969, to join the NDP caucus on the opposition benches. Borowski endorsed Sidney Green for the party's leadership in May 1969.

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