Sterling Lyon
Francis L. Jobin Pearl McGonigal | |
---|---|
Preceded by | Edward Schreyer |
Succeeded by | Howard Pawley |
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for Charleswood | |
In office October 11, 1977 – March 18, 1986 | |
Preceded by | Arthur Moug |
Succeeded by | Jim Ernst |
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for Souris-Killarney | |
In office November 7, 1976 – October 11, 1977 | |
Preceded by | Earl McKellar |
Succeeded by | Brian Ransom |
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba for Fort Garry | |
In office June 16, 1958 – June 25, 1969 | |
Preceded by | L. Raymond Fennell |
Succeeded by | Bud Sherman |
Personal details | |
Born | Windsor, Ontario, Canada | January 30, 1927
Died | December 16, 2010 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada | (aged 83)
Political party | Progressive Conservative |
Spouse |
Barbara Jean Mayers (m. 1953) |
Children | 5 |
Residence(s) | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
Alma mater | University of Manitoba (LL.B.) |
Occupation | lawyer |
Profession | politician |
Cabinet | Attorney-General (1958–1963) Minister of Municipal Affairs (1960–1961) Minister of Public Utilities (1961–1963) Minister of Mines and Natural Resources (1963–1966) Minister of Public Utilities (1964) Attorney General (1966–1969) Minister of Tourism and Recreation Commission, Northern Affairs (1966–1968) Leader of the Opposition (1981–1983) |
Sterling Rufus Lyon
Early life
Born in Windsor, Ontario, the son of David Rufus Lyon and Ella Mae Cuthbert,[2] he moved with his family to Manitoba at a young age and grew up in Portage la Prairie.[1]
Education and legal career
Lyon graduated from
Political career
Lyon was first elected to the
Roblin's Tories won a majority in 1959, and Lyon was easily re-elected in his own riding. He continued to serve as Attorney General, and also served as Minister of Municipal Affairs (September 30, 1960 – October 25, 1961) and Minister of Public Utilities (October 31, 1961 – June 12, 1963).
On December 9, 1963, Lyon was shifted from the Attorney General's position to the Ministry of Mines and Natural Resources. He held this position until June 22, 1966, and briefly served as Public Utilities minister again in mid-1964. Lyon became Attorney General again after the 1966 election, and also served as Minister of Tourism and Recreation from 1968 to 1969. He was re-elected easily in 1962 or 1966. He served a total of nine years as Attorney General.
When Roblin moved to federal politics in 1967, Lyon was one of four candidates who sought to replace him. He was defeated by Walter Weir on the third ballot, and did not seek re-election in 1969. Although Weir and Lyon were both politically to the right of Roblin, they represented different constituencies in the party: Weir was a rural populist, Lyon a supporter of urban business development.
In February 1969, Lyon expressed skepticism about the wisdom of codifying common law rights in a written constitution.[3]
Lyon ran for the House of Commons of Canada in 1974 for the federal Progressive Conservatives, narrowly losing the riding of Winnipeg South to Liberal incumbent James A. Richardson.
The following year, Lyon returned to provincial politics to challenge Sidney Spivak for the Progressive Conservative Party's leadership. Spivak, a former cabinet colleague of Lyon's who had been elected party leader in 1971, was a Red Tory opposed by many of the more conservative figures within his caucus. The right wing of the party consolidated around Lyon's challenge, and he defeated Spivak by fifty-seven votes at a very divisive leadership convention in December 1975. Lyon returned to the legislature for the rural riding of Souris-Killarney in a 1976 by-election.
Premier of Manitoba
In
Lyon was also an initial opponent of
Lyon's PCs lost government to the NDP, now led by Howard Pawley, in 1981, after only one term in office. The Tories lost 11 seats, almost as much as they had won four years earlier.
Post-premiership
Lyon acted as Leader of the Opposition for two years and fought Pawley's proposals to entrench the rights of Franco-Manitobans in the Constitution. In 1983, Lyon stepped down as Tory leader and was replaced by Gary Filmon. Lyon retired from politics when he did not run for re-election in the 1986 provincial election.
Post-political career
He was appointed to the Manitoba Court of Appeal in 1986. He served there until retiring in 2002. Sterling Lyon died on December 16, 2010, following a brief illness, at the age of 83.
Distinctions and awards
He was sworn into the
In 2004, Lyon was chosen as the University of Winnipeg's annual recipient of the "Distinguished Alumnus Award". In 2009, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for his contributions as a judge and long-time politician in Manitoba, where, as premier, he led the expansion of community-based health and social services, and modernized governmental financial procedures".[5]
The Sterling Lyon Parkway in Winnipeg was completed and opened to traffic in November 2005. The route was added during the construction of the Kenaston Underpass. The Sterling Lyon Parkway, a new east–west road, has replaced a section of Wilkes Avenue near the underpass.
Legacy
Though his premiership was short, it's been argued that those years left an enduring legacy. An unsigned editorial in the Winnipeg Free Press argued:
The other major pillar of Mr. Lyon's legacy – the inclusion of the notwithstanding clause in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as a defence of the supremacy of elected parliaments over unelected courts – was controversial when he first supported it and remains so today. He feared that provincial and federal parliaments would themselves cede their power to the courts to avoid controversial issues, a fear that has proved well founded.[6]
References
- ^ a b c "Former Manitoba premier Sterling Lyon dies". CBC News.[dead link]
- ^ a b Normandin, Pierre G (1965). Canadian Parliamentary Guide.
- ^ Winnipeg Free Press, 12 February 1969, p. 33.
- ^ "Frederic Bastien: The true 'battle of London' | National Post". Archived from the original on 2014-11-07. Retrieved 2014-11-07.
- ^ "Governor General announces 60 new appointments to the Order of Canada". July 1, 2009. Archived from the original on July 5, 2009.
- ^ A rare Canadian politician. December 17, 2010. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/editorials/a-rare-canadian-politician-112054119.html
- Call it meaningful, or call it mean, he believed in the right-wing rhetoric Obituary in The Globe and Mail, 26 January 2011