Duane Nicol

Nicol (born May 26, 1978) is a young politician in Manitoba. He has campaigned for the Canadian House of Commons on two occasions and is now the CAO for the City of Selkirk, where he was born and raised.
Nicol initially enrolled for an Engineering program at the University of Manitoba, but changed his major to Political Science after a year and received an honours degree in 2003. He campaigned for the New Democratic party in Winnipeg South in the 2000 federal election, and received 4,224 votes (10.04%) for a third-place finish against Liberal incumbent Reg Alcock. He was chair of the University of Manitoba Student Union during the election (Winnipeg Free Press, 21 November 2000).
He was appointed to the Interlake Regional Health Authority in 2001 by provincial Health Minister Dave Chomiak, and served as chair of the planning committee. He was later elected to Selkirk's city council in the 2002 municipal election, finishing fifth in the town's single "at-large" district (the top six candidates were declared elected). Nicol is the youngest councillor ever elected in the city.
He worked for provincial New Democrats Peter Bjornson and Greg Dewar in the 2003 Manitoba provincial election, and also assisted Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Marilyn Churley in the Ontario election the same year. Nicol voted against theNew Policy Initiative proposal for the NDP in 2001, and endorsed Bill Blaikie for NDP leader in 2002-2003. He won the NDP nomination in 2004 over Chris Pawley, the son of former Premier of Manitoba Howard Pawley (National Post, 8 May 2004), and received 10,516 votes (26.5%) in the general election for a second-place finish against James Bezan of the Conservative Party.
Nicol has written several essays on Canada's political system, including one piece from 2003 entitled "Turning Politics on its Head". This work criticized the modern approach of "selling" politicians, and called for more community-based consultation (Winnipeg Free Press, 30 November 2003). During the 2004 election, he listed Tommy Douglas as his political hero.
Nicol was re-elected to Selkirk City Council in 2006 where he serves as the chair of the city's Public Transit Committee and the Audit Committee.
Some biographical information in this sketch is taken from Nicol's website.

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