Raymond Reierson

Raymond Reierson
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
In office
August 5, 1952 – August 30, 1971
Preceded by Joseph Beaudry
Succeeded by Mick Fluker
Constituency St. Paul
Personal details
Born October 7, 1919
Edberg, Alberta, Canada
Political party Social Credit
Spouse(s) Joyce E. Stewart
(m. Dec. 21, 1949)
Occupation politician

Raymond Reierson (born October 7, 1919) is a former provincial politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1952 to 1971 sitting with the Social Credit caucus in government. During his time in office Reierson served as a cabinet minister serving numerous portfolios in the governments of Premier Ernest Manning and Harry Strom from 1955 to 1971. He was born in Edberg in 1919, the son of Reier and Bertha C. (née Sorensen) Reierson.[1]

Political career

Reierson ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature as the Social Credit candidate in the electoral district of 1952 Alberta general election. The two way race was hotly contested. Reierson barely won the straight fight over Liberal candidate Laval Fortier to hold the seat for his party.[2]

Reierson ran for a second term in the 1955 Alberta general election. This time the election was a three way race. Liberal candidate J.R. Sweeney gave Reierson a strong challenge, however he still managed to win over half the popular vote to keep his seat.[3]

After the election Premier Ernest Manning appointed Reierson to the Executive Council of Alberta. He gave him the Industries and Labour portfolio on August 2, 1955.[4] He ran for re-election as a cabinet minister in the 1959 Alberta general election and won a very solid majority to retain his seat.[5]

After the election Manning changed Reierson's portfolio to only focus on Labour on September 1, 1959.[6] He ran for re-election to his fourth term in the 1963 Alberta general election. His popular vote dropped sharply from the previous election, however he still managed to win over half the popular vote in his district.[7]

Reierson ran for his fifth term in the 1967 general election. He managed to hang onto his seat winning a plurality over the three opposition candidates.[8]

Premier Manning gave Reierson a second portfolio after the election. He was appointed Minister of Education in addition to his other portfolio. A year later Rierson decided to run for leader of the Social Credit party in the 1968 leadership election. He finished third on the first ballot but decided not to contest the second ballot and dropped out of the race. The leadership election was won by Harry Strom.

After Harry Strom was appointed Premier he shuffled the cabinet on December 12, 1968. Reierson kept his Labour portfolio, while his Education portfolio was exchanged for the Telephones portfolio.

As Minister of Telephones Reierson tried to lobby the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in 1970 to give Alberta Government Telephones exclusive control of distributing television content from the United States. He believed his plan would lower subscriber costs from $6 a month at the time to $1 a month and allow the best content from the three US networks in operation at the time. This was in response to new CRTC rules that only allowed cable providers to carry one US Commercial station.[9]

Reierson ran for re-election to a sixth term in the 1971 Alberta general election. He was defeated by Progressive Conservative candidate Mick Fluker in a hotly contested race.[10]

Late life

Reierson returned to the Alberta Legislature in 2006 with Nick Dushenski and Arthur Dixon as the most senior members at the 100th Anniversary celebration of the Alberta Legislature.[11]

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ "St. Paul Official Results 1952 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
  3. ↑ "St. Paul Official Results 1955 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
  4. ↑ Alberta Official Gazette. Vol. 51 (Government of Alberta). 1955. p. 1,568.
  5. ↑ "St. Paul Official Results 1959 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
  6. ↑ Alberta Official Gazette. Vol. 55 (Government of Alberta). 1959. p. 1,492.
  7. ↑ "St. Paul Official Results 1963 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
  8. ↑ "St. Paul Official Results 1967 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
  9. ↑ "Phone System Urged for Alberta Cable TV". The Montreal Gazette. May 27, 1970. p. 12.
  10. ↑ "St. Paul Official Results 1971 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved April 25, 2010.
  11. ↑ https://www.assembly.ab.ca/ISYS/LADDAR_files/docs/hansards/han/legislature_26/session_2/20060315_1330_01_han.pdf |chapter-url= missing title (help) (PDF). Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Legislative Assembly of Alberta. March 15, 2006. p. 441.

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