Stanley Waters

Stanley Charles "Stan" Waters (born June 14, 1920 in Winnipeg , Manitoba , † September 25, 1991 ) was the only elected Senator of Canada , a senior Canadian officer and businessman.

biography

Waters was drafted into the Canadian Army in 1941. He later belonged to the First Special Service Force , in which he commanded a battalion. After the Second World War, he decided to remain in the armed forces, where he steadily climbed the career ladder. Until 1975 he was Lieutenant-General and Commander of the Canadian Forces Mobile Command. In 1975 he finally entered civil life, where he became President of the Loram Group, a subsidiary of the Canadian construction group Mannix. He was also a co-founder of the Bowfort Group, which is involved in agriculture, real estate trading and investment across Western Canada. He was active as a businessman until 1989.

In 1987 he was a founding member of Preston Manning's Reform Party . Early on he was one of the party's most popular figures and very active in public. His chance at a Parliament Square came in 1989.

The debate about a possible constitutional amendment through the Meech Lake Accord prompted Alberta's Prime Minister Don Getty to hold an election for the post of senator. According to the Canadian Constitution, this choice is only a symbolic act, as it has no formal binding effect. Officially, the Governor General of Canada appoints new Senators on the proposal of the Prime Minister. The prime minister is not bound by any guidelines. Stan Waters ran as a candidate for the Reform Party and won with 41.7 percent of the 620,000 votes cast. Prime Minister Brian Mulroney found himself so pressured by the events that he agreed to appoint the unloved Waters to the Senate.

On June 11, 1990, Waters took his oath of office. He was not only the only senator elected so far, but also the only one the Reform Party has ever elected. During his short term in office, Waters spoke out in favor of ending the Anglo-French bilingualism of Canadian authorities, called for health reform, opposed state funding for art and vehemently called for a reform of the Senate.

Waters died in September 1991. After the Liberal Party regained power in 1993, the new Prime Minister Jean Chrétien stopped all efforts to reform the Senate. Neither he nor his successor Paul Martin have appointed "elected" senators because they saw no legal basis for doing so.

Web links

• Stanley Waters - biographical information on the website of the Canadian Parliament (English)