1946 – 2026 Watching Steinbach Grow – Jim Penner scores easy byelection victory

DECEMBER 9, 1972—Grocer Jim Penner was elected to an easy victory in a Steinbach council byelection, drawing more than double the votes of vice principal Elbert Toews.

With less than 25 percent of the eligible voters casting ballots, Penner received 543 votes to 262 for Toews.

The new council member’s appointment became effective immediately, as Mayor A.D. Penner called a meeting of council at 10 p.m. the same night to hand out portfolios and announce the various committee make-ups.

Penner’s term of office will expire next fall, since he fills the vacancy left when Steinbach councillor Jake Epp, running for the Conservatives, upset Liberal Provencher MP Mark Smerchanski in the Oct. 20 federal election.

The light voter turnout, considered light even for Steinbach, where elections for council generally attract about 30 percent of the voters, was attributed to the frequency of elections this fall. Monday marked the third time in less than two months that Steinbach voters were asked to go to the polls.

The election victory for Jim Penner followed a narrow loss in a bid to unseat Mayor A.D. Penner in the Oct. 25 municipal election. After losing that election, the 33-year-old president of Penner Foods was persuaded by friends and supporters that attempting to gain a council seat in the byelection was the most logical course of action.

In his campaign platform, advertised mainly through newspaper ads and door-to-door fact sheets, Penner had stressed careful management and sound planning as two top priorities in the town.

He also urged people to begin preparations for Steinbach’s centennial in 1974 and pledged to work for greater harmony between employees and employers.

Vice-principal Elbert Toews had campaigned on the premise that the town council needed a non-business voice, as every councillor at present was a businessman.