Thomas George Nevakshonoff (born December 22, 1958) is a former politician in

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

, Canada. He served as a member of the

Manitoba legislature The Legislature of Manitoba is the legislature of the province of Manitoba, Canada. Today, the legislature is made of two elements: the King of Canada in Right of Manitoba, represented by the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, and the unicameral ...

, prior to his defeat in 2016. Nevakshonoff was born in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

. He grew up in Poplarfield and Fisher Branch, Manitoba. He graduated from the Fisher Branch Collegiate Institute in 1977. He then spent eighteen years working in Canada's oilfields. In 1987, Nevakshonoff graduated from

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning Wo ...

in Ottawa with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in East European Studies. He is from a

Doukhobor The Doukhobours or Dukhobors (russian: духоборы / духоборцы, dukhobory / dukhobortsy; ) are a Spiritual Christian ethnoreligious group of Russian origin. They are one of many non-Orthodox ethno-confessional faiths in Russia a ...

family that moved to Canada in 1899. Nevakshonoff travelled to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

in 1991 where he was employed by Canadian companies interested in the Russian oil and gas industries. In 1992, he was commissioned by the Canadian Embassy in Russia to write a petroleum sector study. He returned to Canada and on his father's retirement replaced his father as co-owner of the family business, Aberdeen Lodge, a family-owned lodge located just south of

Flin Flon Flin Flon (pop. 5,185 in 2016 census; 4,982 in Manitoba and 203 in Saskatchewan) is a mining city, located on a correction line on the border of the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with the majority of the city located within M ...

. He married Rozanne Imlah in 2000. Nevakshonoff was elected to the

as a

New Democrat New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as cultural ...

in the provincial election of 1999, defeating Progressive Conservative Betty Green by 3809 votes to 3260 in the riding of

Interlake Interlake was a provincial electoral division in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It was created by redistribution in 1979, and has formally existed since the 1981 provincial election. Previously, much of the Interlake region was include ...

. In 2003, he supported

Bill Blaikie William Alexander Blaikie (June 19, 1951 – September 24, 2022) was a Canadian politician. He served as a member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2008, representing Elmwood—Transcona and its antecedent ridings in the House of Commons of Canad ...

's campaign to become leader of the federal New Democratic Party. Nevakshonoff was re-elected in the 2003 election, defeating Betty Green again by a wider margin. He was returned again in the 2007 election. He is the chair of the NDP's Legislative Review Committee of the NDP Caucus and the Standing Committee of Agriculture of the Legislative Assembly. He is also the Legislative Assistant to the Minister of Conservation and the Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation. In 2011, he was named deputy speaker. Nevakshonoff was elected again in 2011. His great-grandfather Henry Mabb and Frederick Bird, another ancestor, both served in the Manitoba assembly.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nevakshonoff, Tom 1958 births Canadian people of Russian descent Carleton University alumni Living people New Democratic Party of Manitoba MLAs Politicians from Winnipeg Members of the Executive Council of Manitoba 21st-century Canadian politicians