| Chester Ronning | |
|---|---|
| Born | Chester Alvin Ronning December 13, 1894 Fangcheng, China |
| Died | December 31, 1984 (aged 90) |
| Occupation | diplomat and politician |
Chester Alvin Ronning, CC, AOE (December 13, 1894 – December 31, 1984) was a Canadian diplomat and politician.
Ronning was born in Fangcheng, China, the son of Norwegian Lutheran missionaries, and graduated from the University of Alberta in 1916 with a B.Sc.
He returned to China to serve as a missionary from 1922 to 1927 and then returned to Alberta where he took up a position as Principal of the Camrose Lutheran College.
He was a member of the United Farmers of Alberta and on October 25, 1932 he was elected in a by-election for Camrose. He was defeated in the 1935 provincial election that wiped out the UFA.
He joined the new Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and was leader of the Alberta CCF from 1940 to 1942. The 1940 Alberta election saw no CCFers elected despite winning 11% of the vote; Ronning stepped aside as leader in favour of Elmer Roper who won a 1942 by-election to become Alberta's first elected CCF MLA.
He ran unsuccessfully for the CCF in the 1945 federal election in the riding of Camrose, losing to the Social Credit candidate, James Alexander Marshall.
Ronning served in diplomatic posts in China (1945–1951), Norway (1954–1957), India (1957–1964) and the United Nations. He also participated in the international commissions on Korea (1954) and Laos (1961–62) and undertook special missions to Hanoi (1965–66) in attempts to mediate the Vietnam War. In 1967 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and was promoted to Companion in 1972. He was inducted into the Alberta Order of Excellence in 1983.
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