Peter Kaufmann (Manitoba politician)

Peter Kaufmann is a businessman and former municipal politician in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He has been a city councillor and school trustee, and has campaigned for Mayor of Winnipeg on two occasions.

Kaufmann was born in 1947 on the Danish island of Fejø. His father Ivan left Denmark for Sweden before World War II, because his last name was Jewish, and he feared persecution from the Nazis. His father later returned and fought against the Nazis with the Danish resistance movement. Kaufmann moved to rural Manitoba with his family in 1954, and later settled in Winnipeg. He is the founder of the local grocery franchise Kaufmann Foods, the first branch of which was set up in 1979 in St. Vital. In 1993, Kaufmann said that his intent was to provide service for areas neglected by major supermarket chains.

Kaufmann was elected to the St. Vital school board in 1983, and served for three years before his defeat in 1986. His support for a sex-education program that was opposed by some local groups probably contributed to his loss. He was later elected to city council in the 1989 municipal election for Seine Valley. He supported efforts to keep the Winnipeg Jets hockey franchise in the city. In 1991, he brought forward a motion requiring cyclists in Winnipeg to wear helmets. His ward was eliminated for the 1992 municipal election, and he did not seek election elsewhere.

In early 1995, Kaufmann represented a group of local businessmen in their effort to build a new arena next to the Winnipeg Convention Centre, with the intent of keeping the Jets in the city. This was a rival proposal to that offered by the Manitoba Entertainment Complex (MEC). The plan was unsuccessful.

Kaufmann first campaigned for Mayor of Winnipeg in the 1995 municipal election. He pledged to eliminate the business tax over ten years, shift school taxes from property to income, cut city staff and budgets, and restructure city council to dissolve the board of commissioners. He supported an apprentice program for at-risk youth and opposed the sale of Winnipeg Hydro to the private sector, although he favoured contracting out various municipal services. Kaufmann said that he would spend up to $10 million to refurbish Winnipeg's existing arena, but would not support construction of a new arena in the near future.

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