Oswald Sawh, who served two terms on Thompson city council from 2002 to 2010 and retired as CEO of Communities Economic Development Fund in 2021, announced March 7 that he is seeking to become the NDP candidate for Thompson in an upcoming byelection.
The date of the byelection to choose a successor to former Thompson MLA Danielle Adams, who was killed in a car accident on her way to Winnipeg in early December, has not yet been announced, but it must be held by early June. The provincial Election Act requires that elections to fill vacancies in the legislature be held within 180 days of the seat becoming open.
Sawh, who has experience as the board chair for Men Are Part of the Solution, a charitable organization that provides counselling and transitional housing to address intimate partner violence and addictions, and of the Thompson Regional Humane Society, which he helped found about 20 years ago, believes his combination of skills and experiences would serve him well as a potential MLA.
“I think I have good knowledge of the challenges that our area faces,” Sawh told the Thompson Citizen March 7. “I believe I do have the skillset to play a big role in helping to solve them.”
Born in Guyana, Sawh immigrated to Canada with his family at the age of seven and moved to Thompson at the age of 25 after earning a commerce degree from the University of Manitoba. He has since earned an MBA and designation as a certified general accountant.
The potential candidate says one of his proudest achievements as a Thompson city councillor was helping to pass the city’s single-use plastic bag ban and feels he is now in a place in his life in which getting involved in politics is feasible again.
Sawh didn’t run for re-election to council in 2010 because his son was born about a month before the municipal election date.
“I did want to take a step back” to concentrate on being a dad, said Sawh, whose own father had an addiction and died in Winnipeg when Sawh was nine years old. With his son now 11 and Sawh having retired from his full-time job, though he still runs a couple business and is a part-time instructor at University College of the North, he feels circumstances are right for a possible return to politics. “I think it’s a good time for me to get back involved in this area.”
Poverty, addictions and northern economic development are issues that Sawh says have a serious impact on Thompson and the rest of Northern Manitoba.
“I know the issues. I’ve been dealing with them for close to three decades. I have the experience, not just in the area of economic development, but in a lot of my social activism on issues that I think are affecting the north.”
Seeking the NDP candidacy in Thompson is Sawh’s first foray into the world of Manitoba provincial politics.
“I have dabbled here and there but nothing as serious as being an actual candidate,” he says. “I see there is a real chance for me to try and hopefully make a difference.”
To learn more about Sawh’s background and experience, visit his website at www.oswaldsawh.ca.
