Jim Maloway - Member of The Legislative Assembly

Member of The Legislative Assembly

Maloway was elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 1986 provincial election over incumbent Russell Doern, a former New Democrat who had left the party two years earlier. The NDP won a narrow majority government under Howard Pawley, and Maloway served as a government backbencher.

The Pawley government was unexpectedly defeated in the legislature in early 1988, when disgruntled backbencher Jim Walding voted with the opposition on a motion of non-confidence. Pawley resigned as party leader, but remained premier in a caretaker administration until a new provincial election could be held. Maloway supported Maureen Hemphill's bid to succeed Pawley in the leadership contest that followed; she finished fourth against Gary Doer.

The NDP entered the 1988 provincial election very low in the public opinion polls, and some insiders privately worried that the party could lose all of its seats. Maloway narrowly retained the Elmwood division against a strong challenge from the Liberal Party. The Progressive Conservatives under Gary Filmon won a minority government, while the NDP fell to third-party status. In opposition, Maloway served as his party's critic for Consumer and Corporate Affairs, and deputy critic for Finance.

Maloway was an opponent of the Meech Lake Accord, an unsuccessful attempt at constitutional reform that would have delegated powers from the federal government to the provinces and recognized Quebec as a distinct society within Canada. The accord required approval from all ten of Canada's provincial legislatures to be passed into law; Maloway supported the decision of fellow NDP MLA Elijah Harper to block the accord's passage through procedural tactics, and indicated that he considered taking a similar approach himself.

He was re-elected in the 1990 provincial election, defeating Progressive Conservative candidate Vic Toews. In 1991, he argued that Manitoba should adopt Quebec's system of no-fault auto insurance. He also argued that the Public Utilities Board should be given the power to regulate gas prices, in order to prevent price gouging.

Maloway was re-elected by an increased margin in 1995. He criticized the state of Manitoba's real estate sector later in the same year, arguing that it was being run in a haphazard manner. He later expressed concern that parts of Manitoba's Autopac system would be sold off to the private sector, and accused the Filmon government of privatizing the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission by stealth.

After eleven years in opposition, the New Democratic Party was returned to government in the 1999 provincial election. Maloway was returned in Elmwood without difficulty, and was re-elected again in 2003 and 2007 by significant margins. He sat as a backbench supporter of Gary Doer's government, and was described in a 2007 newspaper report as a left-leaning maverick.

Maloway criticized Winnipeg Mayor Glen Murray's "New Deal for Winnipeg" in the early 2000s, arguing that the city should correct its own finances instead of appealing for aid from other levels of government. In 2007, he criticized his party's decision to abandon its "one member, one vote" method of leadership selection and return to its former model of delegated conventions. He argued that the change would take power away from ordinary party members.

In May 2008, Maloway called on the provincial government to ensure that municipal repairs to the Disraeli Bridge in northeast Winnipeg would be carried out in a way that benefited the public interest. He expressed concern that traffic bottlenecks would occur if the bridge was completely blocked for several months, and called for the bridge to be expanded from four to six lanes. Some municipal politicians criticized this plan, and accused him of opportunism. Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz launched into a personal attack on Maloway during a council debate, for which he was criticized by the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper.