Rita Johnston

Rita Margaret Johnston (* 22. April 1935 in Melville , Saskatchewan as Rita Leichert ) is a Canadian politician . She was Prime Minister of the Province of British Columbia from April 2 to November 5, 1991 and Chairwoman of the British Columbia Social Credit Party . She was also the first woman to head a Canadian provincial government.

biography

Johnston and her husband ran a trailer park in the city of Surrey . She was also active in the city chamber of commerce and in the homeowners association. In 1969 she was elected to Surrey City Council. After Mayor Bill Vander Zalm went into provincial politics, she ran for his successor in 1975 and lost less than 100 votes.

In May 1983, the election for the Surrey constituency in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia followed . Johnston was minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Vander Zalm from 1986, where she mainly devoted herself to the areas of communities and transport. In 1990 Vander Zalm made her vice-premier.

During this time, numerous scandals rocked the British Columbia Social Credit Party. Vander Zalm's eccentricity and right-wing populist course drove moderate Socreds to join the British Columbia Liberal Party . Due to a conflict of interest, Vander Zalm had to resign on April 2, 1991 and Johnston took over the business of government. She was officially elected as the new chairman three months later, but she could not stop the collapse of her party. In the elections on October 17, 1991, the Socreds' share of the vote was halved . Johnston lost their seat and continued in office until November 5th.

In January 1992 Johnston also gave up the party leadership and largely withdrew from the public. As a result, the Social Credit Party, which had dominated provincial politics for four decades, sank into complete insignificance within a few years.

Web links

• Biography at Library and Archives Canada
• Rita Johnston ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .