Conrad Santos

Conrad Santos, First Filipino Canadian elected in Canada

Conrad Santos (November 26, 1934-) is a Manitoba politician and a current member of the Manitoba legislature.

Santos was born in the Philippines and was educated as Harvard University and the University of Michigan, receiving a PhD in Political Science from the latter institution. He moved to Winnipeg in 1965 after receiving a teaching position at the University of Manitoba, where he continues to serve as a faculty member. Santos has also worked as a consultant for the Instituto Centro-Americano de Administracion Publica in Costa Rica, and was a board member of the Citizenship Council of Manitoba from 1977 to 1980.

He sought the NDP nomination for Fort Garry in the 1973 election, but was defeated. He ran for the Winnipeg city council in 1977 and 1980, but lost both times.

Santos was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 1981 provincial election as a New Democrat in the north-end Winnipeg riding of Burrows, defeating NDP-turned-Progressive MLA Ben Hanuschak. He was re-elected in the 1986 election. During the early 1980s, he was one of the few NDP MLAs to support Russell Doern's call for a referendum on provincial french-language services.

Santos lost the Burrows NDP nomination to Doug Martindale in 1988, and subsequently entered the party's leadership race (which was choosing a successor to Howard Pawley) for the sole purpose of protesting the party's nomination methods. He was not a serious candidate, and received only five votes on the first ballot. (See New Democratic Party of Manitoba leadership conventions.) Santos ran for mayor of Winnipeg in 1989, but was again not considered a serious candidate and finished a distant fourth.

In 1990, Santos won the NDP nomination for Broadway, another north-end riding, by a single vote over favoured candidate Marianne Cerilli. He subsequently defeated Liberal incumbent Avis Gray in the 1990 general election, and was re-elected in the 1995 election. In 1995, he endorsed Lorne Nystrom's bid to lead the federal NDP.

When the Broadway riding was eliminated by redistribution in 1999, Santos won the NDP nomination in Wellington (also in Winnipeg's north end), and was returned by a wide margin in the 1999 provincial election. He was again re-elected in the 2003 election.

Santos was named Deputy Speaker after the elections of 1986 and 1999, but has never been appointed to a cabinet position.