Taras Sokolyk

Who is Taras Sokolyk?

Taras Sokolyk is a former political organizer and currently the Chief Executive Officer of Canad Inns in Winnipeg. He played a prominent role in the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba's 1995 election campaign, in which the party won a majority government.

Once a political organizer in Manitoba, Canada, he served as chief of staff to Progressive Conservative premier Gary Filmon in the 1990s, and was later implicated in a vote-splitting scandal relating to the 1995 provincial election.

In 1998, premier Filmon called a commission of inquiry into allegations that local PC organizers Cubby Barrett and Allen Aitken had funded three Independent Native Voice candidates, with the intention of splitting the left-of-centre vote with the New Democratic Party. Sokolyk testified at this inquiry, and was personally implicated when it was discovered he had transferred funds to Aitken during the campaign.

The scandal damaged his reputation, but did not force him to withdraw from political activity. In 2002, new Progressive Conservative leader Stuart Murray secretly contracted Sokolyk to work for the party again. The story was soon leaked to the media by a PC insider, and Sokolyk's contract was terminated with a $25,000 payout.