Way back last Nov. 3 - in the wake of the Oct. 27 municipal election - we wrote an editorial in the space next to this column on this page headlined, "Voters have sent a very strong message to Johnston."
In paragraph five, we said, "And make no mistake; Johnston came very close to losing it, which would have made him the first incumbent mayor to go down to defeat since Jack Knight's election as Thompson's first mayor in 1966."
Well, no actually, it wouldn't have, and since we in the press spend our working lives holding politicians accountable and readily - some would argue almost gleefully at times - pointing out their mistakes and other gaffes, the least we can do in fairness is fess up to our own.
True enough we did check and ask around town, even before the election, if an incumbent Thompson mayor had ever been defeated in a re-election bid. We queried long-time politicians and we asked residents whose tenure living here dates back 50 years. No one we asked could recall a Thompson mayor ever being defeated in a re-election bid.
That's all fine and dandy, but as every first-year journalism student knows from having it drummed into their head repeatedly, assume nothing, including that your sources will have accurate memories of events as long ago as 44 years ago.
The journalist's motto is: "If your mother tells you the sky is blue, go outside and check."
Thompson was simply part of the Local Government District (LGD) of Mystery Lake from 1956, overseen by Carl Nesbitt, the resident administrator, until it became a separate incorporated town with a population of about 11,000 in 1966.
So from our better-late-than-never-file, I can tell you that Jack Knight, a colourful police court magistrate, who also ran the Strand Theatre, won the first-ever municipal election in Thompson on Oct. 26, 1966, defeating A. Brian Campbell by 185 votes.
But Knight lost the rematch to Campbell on Oct. 23, 1968 by 207 votes. Campbell defeated Knight again by 207 votes in their rubber match on Oct. 28, 1970, but in the Oct. 25, 1972 municipal election, Ald. Tom Farrell, the deputy mayor, defeated Campbell by more than 700 votes in a four-way race. Dr. Arthur Philip-Stewart was a close second while Ald. Andy Nabess placed fourth.
Farrell, a lawyer and retired chairperson of the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba (WCB), who is currently reeve of the Rural Municipality of Victoria Beach, recalled Feb. 13 that politics could get heated in Thompson's early years - heated enough for voters to send two incumbent mayors packing between 1968 and 1972 - but issues also tended to blow over fairly quickly, too, Farrell said.
CORRECTION (Appended Feb. 17. 2011): Some columns, even ones about historical accuracy, seem to take on a life of their own, which can be both ironic and humbling. Tom Farrell is the reeve of the Rural Municipality of Victoria Beach and retired chairperson of the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba (WCB) but "does not appear in our records as a lawyer in Manitoba," says Donna McLaren, administrative assistant, admissions & membership department, The Law Society of Manitoba.
Farrell joined the International Nickel Company of Canada (INCO) Limited at Port Colborne, Ontario in 1959. He transferred to Thompson in November 1960 as refinery supervisor and worked at a variety of increasingly more responsible positions. From 1977 to 1989, he was the superintendent of safety and protection for the Manitoba Division of INCO. He began working for the provincial government in 1989 and from 1993 to 2003, Farrell was deputy minister of labour for the Province of Manitoba. He's also a pretty fair ice fisherman, landing his share of Northern pike down at Setting Lake with guys like Ted Tomchuk, Harold Knox and Todd Carpick.
Farrell also refereed in the hotly contested six-team Inco shift hockey league, made up of the Refinery Buccaneers, Refinery Maroons, Refinery Canadians, Smelter Bombers, Smelter Hornets and Smelter Royals.
