Bud Olson
Joe Greene | |
---|---|
Succeeded by | Eugene Whelan |
Senator for Alberta South, Alberta | |
In office April 5, 1977 – March 7, 1996 | |
Appointed by | Pierre Trudeau |
Personal details | |
Born | Horace Andrew Olson October 6, 1925 Iddesleigh, Alberta |
Died | February 14, 2002 (aged 76) Medicine Hat, Alberta |
Political party | Liberal (1967 onwards) Social Credit (until 1967) |
Spouse |
Marion Lucille McLachlan
(m. 1947) |
Children | 4 |
Occupation | farmer, rancher and businessman |
Horace Andrew "Bud" Olson
Early life
Born in Iddesleigh, Alberta on October 6, 1925. On January 27, 1947, he married Marion Lucille McLachlan. They had four children: Sharon Lee, Andrea Lucille, Juanita Carol and Horace Andrew Jr.
Federal politics
Bud Olson was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1957 election as a Social Credit Member of Parliament (MP) from Medicine Hat. He was defeated in the Diefenbaker sweep of 1958, but re-elected in 1962, 1963 and 1965.
With the Social Credit Party's English Canadian wing rapidly disintegrating, Olson crossed the floor in 1967 to join the Liberal Party. Olson supported Pierre Trudeau's successful candidacy for the Liberal leadership in 1968, narrowly won re-election as an MP in 1968 and became minister of agriculture in the first Trudeau government. Olson served in that position until he was heavily defeated by Progressive Conservative Bert Hargrave in the 1972 general election. He was one of only four Liberal MPs elected from Alberta in 1968 – all of whom were defeated in 1972. To date, Olson is the last Liberal elected from a rural Alberta riding.
Olson sought a rematch against Hargrave in 1974, but lost by a margin almost as large as he had in 1972. In 1977, Trudeau appointed him to the
He served as Minister of Economic and Regional Development from 1980 to 1984, as well as
Late life
Olson resigned from the Senate when he was appointed Alberta's 14th Lieutenant-Governor in April 1996. He served in that position until 2000.
Bud Olson died in Medicine Hat in 2002.
Arms
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