Markus Buchart

Markus Buchart
Leader of the Green Party of Manitoba
In office 1999–2005
Preceded by	first leader
Succeeded by	Daniel Drimes
Personal details
Political party	Green Party of Manitoba

Markus Buchart is a lawyer and politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was the first leader of the Green Party of Manitoba, serving from 1999 until his resignation in March 2005.

Buchart has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Manitoba and a Master's Degree from McGill University, both in Economics. He was a provincial civil servant from 1986 to 1992, working for both Progressive Conservative and New Democratic Party governments on tax policy, federal-provincial relations and environmental policy. He left in 1992, disappointed with the government's environmental direction. He received a law degree from the University of Manitoba in 1995, and ran an independent law practice for several years before joining the downtown Winnipeg law firm of Tupper & Adams in 2004. His practice consists mainly of civil litigation. In late 2006, he moved to the firm of Pullan Kammerloch Frohlinger.

Buchart has been active with several environmental, peace and social justice groups, and was an editor and writer for the local environmental quarterly Links Magazine from 1989 to 1998. In one 1995 article, he wrote that Manitoba civil servants had been instructed to write environmental laws and regulations so as to ensure that the government would not be held liable for lax enforcement. He has repeatedly called for Manitoba to improve its water safety legislation, noting that the provincial Environment Act exempts farmland from its provisions. Buchart criticized a water safety bill introduced by Steve Ashton in 2004, arguing that while it would provide for effective testing, it would not prevent waste-runoff from entering the water system in the first place. He has also argued that the province ignored its own laws by allowing the City of Winnipeg to spray malathion against mosquitoes.

Buchart opposed the True North Entertainment Centre's bid to construct an arena on the site of Winnipeg's old Eaton's building in 2002. He spearheaded a court challenge against the Assiniboine Credit Union's decision to fund the project, describing the initiative as a risky venture for members (including himself). He later drew attention to the initial transfer of ownership for the Eaton's building, which was permitted on a sworn value of $10 and resulted in the non-payment of a provincial land transfer tax. Following criticism, the government imposed a transfer tax of $100,000. The property was valued at five million dollars in a subsequent transfer of ownership.

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