Stephen Juba (1914-1993)

Municipal politician, MLA (1954-1957), MLA (1958-1959), Mayor of Winnipeg (1957-1959, 1960-1977)

Born in Winnipeg, he was educated at United College. He founded Keystone Supply, a wholesale firm, in 1944. He was elected as an Independent MLA 1953 and was elected mayor of Winnipeg in 1956, driving to city hall in his bright yellow Cadillac. Juba came out of Winnipeg’s multi-ethnic North End, and his election as mayor symbolized the end of WASP domination of city politics. Known as a quick wit, he had few avocations but politics. Juba was a populist who supported development and lower taxes. In 1959 he introduced the three-digit emergency phone number into North America. He worked hard to get the Pan-Am games for Winnipeg in 1967. He also sabotaged the concept of cabinet government intended for Unicity, forcing the continuation of the mayor as a strong executive independent of the city council. Juba was mayor when the well-known “Gingerbread City Hall” was demolished to make way for the present structure. He retired as mayor in 1977.

In 1957, he was inducted into the Manitoba Order of the Buffalo Hunt for leading a Manitoba delegation along the “Pine to Palm” Highway. In 1970, he became an Officer in the Order of Canada and was awarded the Centennial Medal of Honour by the Manitoba Historical Society. The University of Winnipeg gave him an honorary doctorate in 1974.

Juba died at Petersfield. He was an inaugural inductee into the Winnipeg Citizens Hall of Fame.

More information:

Juba by Michael Czuboka (1986).

Source:

Profile revised: 14 July 2009

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