Sterling Lyon
Encyclopedia
Sterling Rufus Lyon, PC
, OC
(January 30, 1927 December 16, 2010) was a lawyer, cabinet minister, and the 17th Premier
of Manitoba
, Canada
from 1977 to 1981. His government introduced several fiscally-conservative measures, and was sometimes seen as a local version of the government of Margaret Thatcher
in the United Kingdom
. He also successfully fought for the inclusion of the notwithstanding clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
.
, Lyon moved with his family to Manitoba at a young age.
(now the University of Winnipeg
) in 1948, and received an LL.B
from the Manitoba Law School in 1953. Following the completion of his legal education he worked as a crown attorney for the next four years.
, Lyon defeated incumbent Liberal-Progressive
MLA Raymond Fennell, and was subsequently named as Attorney General in Dufferin Roblin
's minority government.
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 to October 25, 1961) and Minister of Public Utilities (October 31, 1961 to 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 had no difficulties being re-elected in 1962 and 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.
Lyon ran for the Canadian House of Commons
in 1974, narrowly losing the riding of Winnipeg South
to Liberal
James Richardson
.
The following year, Lyon returned to provincial politics to challenge Sidney Spivak
for the Progressive Conservative Party's leadership. Spivak, who had been elected party leader in 1971, was a Red Tory
opposed by many of the more conservative figures within his caucus. The conservative wing of the party consolidated around Lyon's challenge, and he defeated Spivak by 57 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.
In 1977, Lyon led the Progressive Conservative Party to an upset victory of Edward Schreyer
's New Democrats
(Lyon was personally elected in the west Winnipeg riding of Charleswood). Lyon's government cut spending in several departments, and de-invested in a number of social programs sponsored by the NDP. In other respects, the Lyon government's commitment to 'small government' was ambivalent — it was, for instance, highly supportive of large-scale energy development projects. Duff Roblin has argued that the Lyon government's right-wing reputation was undeserved, but few others have as yet agreed with this assessment.
Lyon was also an initial opponent of Pierre Trudeau
's constitutional plans, and subsequently became a leading supporter of the notwithstanding clause
provision. He also fought, unsuccessfully, to have property rights entrenched in the constitution
.
Lyon's government was defeated by the New Democratic Party in 1981, after only one term in office. Lyon acted as Leader of the Opposition
for two years and fought Howard Pawley
's proposals to entrench the rights of Franco-Manitoban
s in the constitution. In 1983, Lyon stepped down as Tory leader and was replaced by Gary Filmon
. He retired from politics in 1986.
in 1986. He served there until retiring in 2002. Sterling Lyon died after a brief illness on December 16, 2010.
on April 17, 1982 by Edward Schreyer
on the advice of Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
In 2004, Lyon was chosen as the University of Winnipeg
's annual receipt 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".
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.
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."
Queen's Privy Council for Canada
The Queen's Privy Council for Canada ), sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council, is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign or her viceroy,...
, OC
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
(January 30, 1927 December 16, 2010) was a lawyer, cabinet minister, and the 17th Premier
Premier of Manitoba
The Premier of Manitoba is the first minister for the Canadian province of Manitoba. He or she is the province's head of government and de facto chief executive. Until the early 1970s, the title "Prime Minister of Manitoba" was used frequently. Afterwards, the word Premier, derived from the French...
of Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
from 1977 to 1981. His government introduced several fiscally-conservative measures, and was sometimes seen as a local version of the government of Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. He also successfully fought for the inclusion of the notwithstanding clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
.
Early life
Born in Windsor, OntarioWindsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
, Lyon moved with his family to Manitoba at a young age.
Education and law career
Lyon graduated from United CollegeUnited College, Winnipeg
United College was a college in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It was founded in 1938 with the merger of Manitoba College and Wesley College . The college was affiliated with the University of Manitoba. In 1967, United College received a charter and became the University of Winnipeg....
(now the University of Winnipeg
University of Winnipeg
The University of Winnipeg is a public university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada that offers undergraduate faculties of art, business and economics, education, science and theology as well as graduate programs. The U of W's founding colleges were Manitoba College and Wesley College, which merged...
) in 1948, and received an LL.B
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...
from the Manitoba Law School in 1953. Following the completion of his legal education he worked as a crown attorney for the next four years.
Political career
Lyon was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in 1958, in the south-central Winnipeg riding of Fort Garry. A Progressive ConservativeProgressive Conservative Party of Manitoba
The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba is the only right wing political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is also the official opposition party in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.-Origins and early years:...
, Lyon defeated incumbent Liberal-Progressive
Manitoba Liberal Party
The Manitoba Liberal Party is a political party in Manitoba, Canada. Its roots can be traced to the late nineteenth-century, following the province's creation in 1870.-Origins and early development :...
MLA Raymond Fennell, and was subsequently named as Attorney General in Dufferin Roblin
Dufferin Roblin
Dufferin "Duff" Roblin, PC, CC, OM was a Canadian businessman and politician. Known as "Duff," he served as the 14th Premier of Manitoba from 1958 to 1967. Roblin was appointed to the Canadian Senate on the advice of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. In the government of Brian Mulroney, he served as...
's minority government.
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 to October 25, 1961) and Minister of Public Utilities (October 31, 1961 to 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 had no difficulties being re-elected in 1962 and 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
Walter Weir
Walter C. Weir was a politician who served as the 15th Premier of Manitoba from 1967 to 1969.Weir was born in High Bluff, Manitoba, and worked as a funeral director. He served as chairman of the Minnedosa Hospital Board from 1955 to 1957, and of the Minnedosa Town Council from 1958 to 1959...
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
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
rights in a written constitution.
Lyon ran for the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
in 1974, narrowly losing the riding of Winnipeg South
Winnipeg South
Winnipeg South is a Canadian federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1917 to 1979, and since 1988. It covers the south of the city of Winnipeg...
to Liberal
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
James Richardson
James Richardson
James Richardson may refer to:*James Richardson , Canadian businessman, Chief Marketing Officer of Cisco Systems*James Richardson , British...
.
The following year, Lyon returned to provincial politics to challenge Sidney Spivak
Sidney Spivak
Sidney Spivak was a Manitoba politician. He was a Cabinet Minister in the governments of Dufferin Roblin, Walter Weir and Sterling Lyon, and was himself leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba from 1971 to 1975.Spivak was born to a Jewish family in Winnipeg, and was educated at...
for the Progressive Conservative Party's leadership. Spivak, who had been elected party leader in 1971, was a Red Tory
Red Tory
A red Tory is an adherent of a particular political philosophy, tradition, and disposition in Canada somewhat similar to the High Tory tradition in the United Kingdom; it is contrasted with "blue Tory". In Canada, the phenomenon of "red toryism" has fundamentally, if not exclusively, been found in...
opposed by many of the more conservative figures within his caucus. The conservative wing of the party consolidated around Lyon's challenge, and he defeated Spivak by 57 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.
In 1977, Lyon led the Progressive Conservative Party to an upset victory of Edward Schreyer
Edward Schreyer
Edward Richard Schreyer , commonly known as Ed Schreyer, is a Canadian politician, diplomat, and statesman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 22nd since Canadian Confederation....
's New Democrats
New Democratic Party of Manitoba
The New Democratic Party of Manitoba is a social-democratic political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is the provincial wing of the federal New Democratic Party, and is a successor to the Manitoba Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...
(Lyon was personally elected in the west Winnipeg riding of Charleswood). Lyon's government cut spending in several departments, and de-invested in a number of social programs sponsored by the NDP. In other respects, the Lyon government's commitment to 'small government' was ambivalent — it was, for instance, highly supportive of large-scale energy development projects. Duff Roblin has argued that the Lyon government's right-wing reputation was undeserved, but few others have as yet agreed with this assessment.
Lyon was also an initial opponent of Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...
's constitutional plans, and subsequently became a leading supporter of the notwithstanding clause
Section Thirty-three of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Section Thirty-three of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is part of the Constitution of Canada. It is commonly known as the notwithstanding clause , or as the override power, and it allows Parliament or provincial legislatures to override certain portions of the Charter...
provision. He also fought, unsuccessfully, to have property rights entrenched in the constitution
Constitution of Canada
The Constitution of Canada is the supreme law in Canada; the country's constitution is an amalgamation of codified acts and uncodified traditions and conventions. It outlines Canada's system of government, as well as the civil rights of all Canadian citizens and those in Canada...
.
Lyon's government was defeated by the New Democratic Party in 1981, after only one term in office. Lyon acted as Leader of the Opposition
Leader of the Opposition (Manitoba)
A list of parliamentary opposition leaders in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, Canada, from 1870 to the present.William Alexander Macdonald was the first officially recognized Leader of the Opposition in Manitoba although Rodmond Roblin is considered to have been the de facto opposition leader...
for two years and fought Howard Pawley
Howard Pawley
Howard Russell Pawley, PC, OC, OM is a Canadian politician and professor who was the 18th Premier of Manitoba from 1981 to 1988.-Personal life:...
's proposals to entrench the rights of Franco-Manitoban
Franco-Manitoban
Franco-Manitobans are a community of French Canadians and other French-speaking people living in Manitoba. Most Franco-Manitobans have roots in Quebec. However, many are of Métis and Belgian ancestry while others have ancestors that came directly from France, its former colonies and other...
s in the constitution. In 1983, Lyon stepped down as Tory leader and was replaced by Gary Filmon
Gary Filmon
Gary Albert Filmon, PC, OC, OM is a Manitoba politician. He was the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba from 1983 to 2000, and served as the 19th Premier from 1988 to 1999.-Early life and municipal career:...
. He retired from politics in 1986.
Post-political career
He was appointed to the Manitoba Court of AppealManitoba Court of Appeal
The Manitoba Court of Appeal is the highest Court of Appeal in the Canadian province of Manitoba. It was established in 1906. It is located in the Old Law Courts building at 408 York Avenue in Winnipeg, the capital city of Manitoba...
in 1986. He served there until retiring in 2002. Sterling Lyon died after a brief illness on December 16, 2010.
Distinctions and awards
He was sworn into the Privy CouncilQueen's Privy Council for Canada
The Queen's Privy Council for Canada ), sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council, is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign or her viceroy,...
on April 17, 1982 by Edward Schreyer
Edward Schreyer
Edward Richard Schreyer , commonly known as Ed Schreyer, is a Canadian politician, diplomat, and statesman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 22nd since Canadian Confederation....
on the advice of Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
In 2004, Lyon was chosen as the University of Winnipeg
University of Winnipeg
The University of Winnipeg is a public university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada that offers undergraduate faculties of art, business and economics, education, science and theology as well as graduate programs. The U of W's founding colleges were Manitoba College and Wesley College, which merged...
's annual receipt of the "Distinguished Alumnus Award". In 2009, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
"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".
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 PressWinnipeg Free Press
The Winnipeg Free Press is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Founded in 1872, as the Manitoba Free Press, it is the oldest newspaper in western Canada. It is the newspaper with the largest readership in the province....
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."