Canadian Parliamentary Review – La Revue parlementaire canadienne
Canadian Commonwealth Association – L’ Association parlementaire du Commonwealth
The years following the creation of the Province of Alberta were marked by a dynamic era of rapid growth and development. This was a time of economic expansion, infrastructure projects, building provincial institutions, establishing the education system, and social change. People were drawn to the province by the promise of new opportunities.
Newfoundland and Labrador is known for its winters, and that reputation extends to our House of Assembly. Two generations of Winter brothers held senior roles in the executive and legislative branches of the Newfoundland government: brothers Marmaduke George Winter and James Spearman Winter, and James’ sons Harry Anderson Winter and James Alexander Winter. The story began when James Spearman Winter and Marmaduke George Winter were born in Lamaline, on the tip of the Burin Peninsula, to James and Harriet (Pitman) Winter.
On March 3, 2023, history was made in the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut when Iqaluit-Tasiluk MLA and Deputy Speaker George Hickes took the Chair for a day in the absence of the Speaker.
Iqaluit-Sinaa MLA Janet Pitsiulaaq Brewster noted the historic nature of the occasion during her Member’s Statement, in which she drew the attention of the House to the likelihood that a former Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, also named George Hickes, would be watching the day’s livestreamed proceedings from his home in Winnipeg.
Continue reading “Parliamentary Relatives: A Northern Family’s Tradition of Service”
Twin brothers Archibald Donald Lang and Hector Daniel Lang, known as Archie and Dan, were well-known fixtures of Yukon territorial politics for decades. And, when Dan made the switch to federal politics upon his appointment to the Senate in 2009, he was not the first member of his family to serve in the Upper Chamber. In fact, he wasn’t even the first member of his family who bore the name Daniel Lang to serve as a senator. The twins, their grandfather, their great uncle, and their first cousin once removed, were part of a family with a long history of public service. As Dan notes, “Public affairs was always the first topic discussed at the dinner table.”
Continue reading “Parliamentary Relatives: The Langs of Yukon, Alberta and Ontario”Dale Lovick and Jan Pullinger married while both were serving as Members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. Lovick was first elected in the 1986 provincial general election and Pullinger was elected in a 1989 by-election. They both represented the electoral district of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island until 1991, when multi-Member electoral districts were eliminated in B.C. From 1991, Lovick continued to represent the electoral district of Nanaimo while Pullinger represented the neighbouring electoral district of Cowichan-Ladysmith. They both served as MLAs until the dissolution of the 36th Parliament in 2001.
Continue reading “Parliamentary Relatives: Dale Lovick and Jan Pullinger”The Newfoundland and Labrador electoral district of Torngat Mountains encompasses the whole northern portion of Labrador. It is the largest district geographically; covering approximately 28 per cent of the province’s total land area. Containing six Indigenous communities, none of which are accessible by road, the district is named for the awe-inspiring Torngat Mountain range. The name Torngat is derived from an Inuktitut word meaning ‘place of spirits’, and the entire region is an Inuit homeland.
Continue reading “Parliamentary Relatives: Representing the Place of Spirits”Municipally, provincially, and federally, governing bodies across Canada have seen numerous political families. Parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, brothers, sisters, in-laws—direct and extended-family dynasties are scattered throughout the nation’s political history.
Entrenched among these narratives are those of parliamentarians linked by love rather than blood. Of known couples, partners have often served in the House of Commons sequentially rather than simultaneously. Notably, many widows ran in subsequent elections after the deaths of their husbands.
Few families fit the definition of a “political dynasty” better than the David family. For over 100 years now, the family has left their mark on Quebec and Canadian politics.
Laurent-Olivier David (1840–1926), a lawyer and newspaper editor, was elected as the Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec for Montreal East in 1886. He did not seek re-election in 1890. Laurent-Olivier was defeated in Montreal East in the 1891 federal election and in Napierville in the 1892 provincial election. Appointed as senator for the senatorial division of Mille-Isles in 1903, Laurent-Olivier remained in office until his death.
Continue reading “A Quebec political dynasty: the David family”
“Horner Family Political Dynasty to End; Former Finance Minister who comes from a Long Line of Elected Conservatives Announces that He Will Give up His Seat on Jan. 31,” declared a Globe and Mail headline on January 23, 2015. It is not known how or even if the Horner political clan reacted to the headline. What is clear is that the Toronto-based newspaper had under-estimated the longevity of one of Western Canada’s pre-eminent political families. On April 16, 2019, Nate Horner was elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Drumheller-Stettler, and the long-standing political dynasty based in the Prairies continues.
As with many Prairie families, the Horners started out elsewhere, with the family first settling in Quebec in the 1800s, having emigrated from Ireland. Ralph Horner, one of the sons of the immigrant family, moved to Saskatchewan in the early 1900s, to establish a farm there. He soon entered political life, running, unsuccessfully, for the provincial Assembly on two occasions before being appointed to the Senate in 1933, where he served until 1964.
Continue reading “Parliamentary Relatives: The Horner Political Dynasty”
In 1952, Aris and Arisje Hardeman, accompanied by 14 children and pregnant with a 15th, emigrated from Holland and settled in Southwestern Ontario. One of their sons went on to be elected as the Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) representing the very riding in which they arrived. One of their daughters went on to raise another eventual MPP.