Sterling Lyon

Sterling Rufus Lyon OC (born January 30, 1927 in Windsor , Ontario , † December 16, 2010 in Winnipeg , Manitoba ) was a Canadian lawyer and politician . From 1958 to 1969 and from 1973 to 1986 he was a member of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly . After holding several ministerial posts in the cabinets of Dufferin Roblin and Walter Weir , he ruled the Manitoba Province as Prime Minister from November 24, 1977 to November 30, 1981. He was chairman of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba from 1975 to 1983.

biography

After attending school, Lyon first studied at the University of Winnipeg and graduated in 1948. He completed a postgraduate degree in law at the Law School of the University of Manitoba , where he earned a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) in 1953 . He then worked as a public prosecutor from 1953 to 1957 . As a candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba (Tories) , he was elected for the first time in June 1958 as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba , where he represented the constituency of Fort Garry . Prime Minister Dufferin Roblin then appointed him Attorney General .

In an early election in May 1959, the Tories won an absolute majority. Lyon also took over the management of the Ministry of Local Affairs (September 1960 to October 1961) and the Ministry of Public Utilities (October 1961 to June 1963). As part of a cabinet reshuffle, Lyon became Minister of Mines and Natural Resources in December 1963. He held this office until June 1966; in addition, he was again briefly Minister for Public Utilities in mid-1964. After the election in June 1966 he was again Attorney General and at the same time from 1968 to July 1969 Minister for Tourism and Leisure.

After Roblin's resignation, Lyon ran for chairmanship of the Tories in 1967, but was defeated by Walter Weir . He did not run for the June 1969 election. Five years later he ran for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in the 1974 general election , but could not prevail against the incumbent, Defense Secretary James Armstrong Richardson . In the election for chairman of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba, Lyon was able to prevail in December 1975 against Sidney Spivak . He then decided a by-election for himself and became opposition leader in the legislative assembly.

Lyon led the Tories on October 11, 1977 to victory over the New Democratic Party of Manitoba (NDP) of incumbent Prime Minister Edward Schreyer . On November 24th he succeeded Schreyer. His government made budget cuts in numerous ministries, but in return it promoted the energy industry to a large extent. Lyon was initially opposed to the revision of the Canadian Constitution , but then advocated the notwithstanding clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms , which gave elected parliaments a higher priority . In the November 17, 1981 election, the Tories were defeated by the NDP. On November 30th, Lyon handed over the office of Prime Minister to Howard Pawley .

Lyon remained leader of the opposition for two years until he ceded the party chairmanship to Gary Filmon in 1986 . After retiring from politics in 1986, he was a judge on the Manitoba Court of Appeal until 2002 . In 2002 he received the Order of Manitoba for his services , and in 2009 the Order of Canada .

Web links

• Article Sterling Rufus Lyon in the Canadian Encyclopedia
• Winnipeg Free Press : Former Premier Sterling Lyon dies after short illness (December 16, 2010)
• Entry in rulers.org