Gordon Kesler
Encyclopedia
Political career
Gordon Kesler was the first separatist politician elected in Canada outside of QuebecQuebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
since the 1870s. His stunning victory in the February 1982 by-election for the Western Canada Concept
Western Canada Concept
The Western Canada Concept was a Western Canadian political party founded in 1980 to promote the separation of the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia and the Yukon and Northwest Territories from Canada in order to create a new nation.The party argued that Western...
received national media attention. After the win Kessler became leader of the party. He won the Olds-Didsbury
Olds-Didsbury
Olds-Didsbury was a provincial electoral district in central southern Alberta, Canada.The riding was created in 1963 as a merger between the Olds and Didsbury ridings....
electoral district defeating Stephen Stiles
Stephen Stiles
.Stephen first ran for the Progressive Conservatives in the February 1982 by-election in Olds-Didsbury that saw Gordon Kesler from the Western Canada Concept elected...
of the Progressive Conservatives and Lloyd Quantz of Social Credit
Social Credit Party of Alberta
The Alberta Social Credit Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on the social credit monetary policy and conservative Christian social values....
and three other candidates.
During the 1982 general election
Alberta general election, 1982
The Alberta general election of 1982 was the twentieth general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on November 2, 1982 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta....
, held only months later in November, Kesler lost his seat despite Western Canada Concept fielding a full slate. He had shifted districts to his home district of Highwood
Highwood (electoral district)
Highwood is a provincial electoral district in southern Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 83 in the province mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting....
after promising to move to Olds-Didsbury
Olds-Didsbury
Olds-Didsbury was a provincial electoral district in central southern Alberta, Canada.The riding was created in 1963 as a merger between the Olds and Didsbury ridings....
if elected. The time he served was the second shortest between election and defeat in the legislature's history. Harry Alger
Harry Alger
Harry Alger is a former provincial level politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a Member of the Alberta Legislature from 1982 until 1989.-Political career:...
from the Progressive Conservatives defeated him with a five thousand vote plurality.
In a 1983 letter to the editor of the Alberta Report
Alberta Report
Alberta Report was a right-wing weekly newsmagazine based in Edmonton. It was founded and edited by Ted Byfield, now the editor and president of the Society to Explore and Record Christian History , and later run by his son, Link Byfield, and ceased publication in 2003.The magazine began as St....
, Doug Christie
Doug Christie (lawyer)
Douglas Hewson "Doug" Christie, Jr. is a Canadian lawyer and far-right political activist based in Victoria, British Columbia.-Career:...
, founder of the Western Canada Concept, accused Gordon Kesler of betraying separatism. Kesler and his party had been striving to distance themselves from the controversial Christie.