Biography

  • First elected in 1999; Re-elected 2003, 2007, 2011

  • Legislative Assistant to Premier Greg Selinger

  • Brandon City Councillor – three terms

  • An active member of the Western Manitoba community, including elected terms on the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, the Union of Manitoba Municipalities and the Manitoba Association of Urban Municipalities

Drew Caldwell was first elected to the Manitoba Legislature on September 21, 1999 and was re-elected on June 3, 2003, May 22, 2007 and October 4, 2011. He served the Doer Government as Minister of Education and Training; Minister of Education, Training and Youth; and Minister of Family Services and Housing. He is currently the Legislative Assistant for Premier Greg Selinger.

As the Doer Government’s first Minister of Education, Drew was responsible for a wide range of initiatives including school division amalgamation, restoring teacher collective bargaining rights, increasing public education funding to the rate of economic growth, implementing a 10% post-secondary education tuition cut and freeze, creating adult learning centre legislation, mandating the College Expansion Initiative and undertaking public school-college-university infrastructure renewal. As Minister of Family Services and Housing, Drew succeeded in passing historic legislation establishing a single tier provincial social assistance program. He was also instrumental in securing long term childcare investment and undertaking a comprehensive affordable housing initiative.

Drew also served as co-chair of the Canadian Forum of Labour Market Ministers and was Head of Delegation for international missions to Indonesia, Malaysia and China. Prior to his election to the Manitoba Legislature, Drew was a three-term city councillor for the historic Rosser Ward in Brandon. He was first elected to Brandon City Council in 1992, re-elected in 1995 and acclaimed in 1998. As a member of Brandon City Council, Drew actively served on numerous municipal committees, particularly those concerned with poverty, affordable housing, neighbourhood renewal, health care, the environment, heritage resources and community economic development. He was a founding director of the Brandon Regional Health Authority.

As an active citizen, Drew served on the executive of the Downtown Brandon Business Improvement Area, the Brandon University Alumni Association, the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, the Brandon Folk, Music and Art Society, the Rosser Ward Citizens’ Association, Park Community Centre, Heritage Brandon and the Brandon Poverty Task Force. He is a proud member of the Marquis Project, the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum, the Royal Canadian Legion.

Drew was born and raised in Brandon. He received his early education in Brandon public schools and earned a B.A. (Hons.) at Brandon University. He went on to receive a B.Ed. from Queen’s University and undertook graduate work in history at McGill University.

Drew and Tommy Douglas at the inauguration of
the Knowles-Douglas Student Union Centre, Brandon University, 1985.

As a student at Brandon University, Drew served as president of the Brandon University Students Union and was an editor of The Quill newspaper. He was instrumental in recruiting Stanley Knowles and Tommy Douglas as patrons of the Knowles-Douglas Student Union Centre at Brandon University and served as chair of the Knowles-Douglas Centre throughout its initial development. Drew has been an executive member of the Brandon East NDP for over thirty years and is a past-President of the New Democratic Party of Manitoba.

Drew has been active in advancing progressive social and political issues all his life.