Clarence Copithorne (November 12, 1920 – June 4, 1979) was a provincial level politician from

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada. He served as a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Alberta The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from sing ...

from 1967 to 1975 sitting as an Independent and later with the Progressive Conservative caucus in both opposition and government. During his time in office he served as a cabinet minister in the government of

Peter Lougheed Edgar Peter Lougheed ( ; July 26, 1928 – September 13, 2012) was a Canadian lawyer and Progressive Conservative politician who served as the tenth premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985, presiding over a period of reform and economic growth. Bo ...

from 1971 to 1975.

Political career

Copithorne ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature in the

1967 Alberta general election The 1967 Alberta general election was held on May 23, 1967, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta to the 16th Alberta Legislature. The election was called after the 15th Alberta Legislature was prorogued on April 11, 1967, and ...

. He ran in the electoral district of

Banff-Cochrane Banff-Cochrane was a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1940 to 1975, and again from 1979 to 2019. The Banff-Cochrane electoral district is home to ...

as an independent candidate and won defeating two other candidates in a hotly contested race, including future MLA Roy Wilson. On April 15, 1970 Copithorne joined the Progressive Conservative caucus giving up his independent status. He ran for re-election in the

1971 Alberta general election The 1971 Alberta general election was the seventeenth general election held in the Province of Alberta, Canada on August 30, 1971, to elect seventy-five members of the Alberta Legislature to form the 17th Alberta Legislative Assembly. The Progr ...

as a Progressive Conservative candidate. He increased his popular vote and held the district defeating two other candidates. His win would help the Progressive Conservatives form government that year. After the election Premier

rewarded Copithorne by appointing him to the

Executive Council of Alberta The Executive Council of Alberta (the Cabinet) is a body of ministers of the Crown in right of Alberta, who along with the lieutenant governor, exercises the powers of the Government of Alberta. Ministers are selected by the premier and typicall ...

to serve as the Minister of Highways and Transport. Copithorne helped develop a plan to create

Kananaskis Country Kananaskis Country is a multi-use area west of Calgary, Alberta, Canada in the Rocky Mountain Foothills, foothills and front ranges of the Canadian Rockies. The area is named for the Kananaskis River, which was named by John Palliser in 1858 after ...

in his district. He retired from the Alberta Legislature and his cabinet position at dissolution in 1975.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Copithorne, Clarence Independent Alberta MLAs Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs 1920 births 1979 deaths People from Cochrane, Alberta Members of the Executive Council of Alberta