Memorable Manitobans: Peter Stanley Taraska (1907-1984)

Accountant, commission chair.

Born at Winnipeg on 21 December 1907, he worked with the Excelsior Life Insurance Company (1942-1945), Commonwealth Construction Company (1945-1957), and McCurdy Supply Company.

He was an unsuccessful Liberal candidate at the provincial and federal (1945, 1949, 1953, 1957, and 1958) levels. He served on the Winnipeg city council (1951-1962) and chaired the Winnipeg School Board (1946-1947). In 1962 he served as financial chair of the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg. He was appointed a citizenship court judge in 1968. In 1971 he chaired the Electoral Boundaries Commission, which recommended the ward boundary system for a proposed regional government for Greater Winnipeg. In this task he sought to preserve the historical and cultural background of the city.

He later chaired another commission which reviewed the City of Winnipeg Act, recommending in 1976 a parliamentary system for Unicity. In 1968 he was appointed a judge in the Court of Canadian Citizenship. He was a knight commander of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great. He received the Order of Canada (1982) and the Order of the Buffalo Hunt (1983).

He died at Winnipeg on 11 June 1984 and was buried in the Chapel Lawn Memorial Gardens.

Sources:

Birth registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

“Former councillor dead at 76,” Winnipeg Free Press, 13 June 1984, page 14.

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 16 June 1984, page 40.

Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.

Winnipeg School Division: Celebrating One Hundred Fifty Years, 1871-2021 by Winnipeg School Division, 2021.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 9 September 2022

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

This is a collection of noteworthy Manitobans from the past, compiled by the Manitoba Historical Society. We acknowledge that the collection contains both reputable and disreputable people. All are worth remembering as a lesson to future generations.

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