Claude Harry Richmond (born August 3, 1935) is a former

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

politician who served as a member of the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia () is the deliberative assembly of the Legislature of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The other component of the Legislature is the lieutenant governor of British Columbi ...

, representing the riding of

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the North Thompson River, North and South Thompson Rivers, which join to become the Thompson River in Kamloops, and east of Kamloops Lake. The city is the ad ...

from 1981 to 1991 as part of the

British Columbia Social Credit Party The British Columbia Social Credit Party was a conservative political party in British Columbia, Canada. It was the governing party of British Columbia for all but three years between the 1952 provincial election and the 1991 election. For fou ...

(Socred), and from 2001 to 2009 as part of the

British Columbia Liberal Party BC United (BCU), known from 1903 until 2023 as the British Columbia Liberal Party or BC Liberals, is a provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party has been described as conservative, neoliberal, and occupying a centre-right ...

. He held various cabinet positions under

premiers Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Bill Bennett William Richards Bennett, (April 14, 1932 – December 3, 2015) was a Canadian politician who was the 27th premier of British Columbia from 1975 to 1986. Early life Bennett was the son of Annie Elizabeth May (Richards) and former premier W. ...

Bill Vander Zalm William Nicholas Vander Zalm (born Wilhelmus Nicholaas Theodore Marie van der Zalm; May 29, 1934) is a Dutch-born Canadian businessman and politician who served as the 28th premier of British Columbia and leader of the British Columbia Social ...

Rita Johnston Rita Margaret Johnston (born April 22, 1935; née Leichert) is a Canadian politician in British Columbia. Johnston became the first female premier in Canadian history when she succeeded Bill Vander Zalm in 1991 to become the 29th premier of Br ...

and Gordon Campbell, and served as

Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Speaker of the Legislative Assembly is a title commonly held by presiding officers of parliamentary bodies styled legislative assemblies. The office is most widely used in state and territorial legislatures in Australia, and in provincial and terr ...

from 2001 to 2005.

Background

Born in

Blue River, British Columbia Blue River is a small community of 175 residents at the 2021 census in British Columbia, situated on Highway 5 about halfway between Kamloops and Jasper, Alberta It is located at the confluence of the Blue and North Thompson Rivers. The loc ...

, Richmond grew up in the

area and attended Kamloops Senior Secondary School. After serving with the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...

and working in small business, he served on the Kamloops City Council for two terms in the 1970s, then worked as manager of

CHNL CHNL (610 AM, "Radio NL") is a radio station in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. Owned by Stingray Radio, it broadcasts a full-service classic hits format. 610 AM is a regional broadcast frequency. There are three stations in Canada on th ...

AM610 from 1978 to 1982. He married his wife Patricia in 1958; they have three children together.

Provincial politics

Social Credit Party

Running for the Social Credit Party, he was first elected as

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

(MLA) for Kamloops in a 1981

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

to replace

Rafe Mair Kenneth Rafe Mair (31 December 1931 – 9 October 2017) was a Canadian lawyer, political commentator, radio personality and politician in British Columbia, Canada. He served in the British Columbia Legislative Assembly as the member for Kamloo ...

, and was named to the cabinet as Minister of Tourism by Premier

in August 1982. He kept the portfolio after winning re-election in

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

. After

replaced Bennett as premier in August 1986, Richmond was re-assigned as Minister of Social Services and Housing. He was re-elected in that October's provincial election; with Kamloops being revised to a dual-member district, Richmond served that term alongside

Bud Smith Robert Allan "Bud" Smith (born October 23, 1979) is an American former baseball pitcher. Smith was active at the major league level in 2001 and 2002, playing for the St. Louis Cardinals. Minor leagues In 2000, Smith led the minor league Cardin ...

. He retained his cabinet portfolio, and additionally served as Minister of State for the

Okanagan The Okanagan ( ), also called the Okanagan Valley and sometimes the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is part of ...

Region from October 1987 to July 1988. Following the resignation of

Bill Reid William Ronald Reid Jr. (12 January 1920 – 13 March 1998) also known as Iljuwas, was a Haida artist whose works include jewelry, sculpture, screen-printing, and paintings. Producing over one thousand original works during his fifty-year car ...

as Minister of Tourism and Provincial Secretary, Richmond briefly assumed those roles from September to November 1989, before becoming Minister of Forests. He was also the Government House Leader from 1988 to 1991. Vander Zalm resigned as premier and party leader in April 1991; Richmond unsuccessfully contested the ensuing interim leadership vote, and subsequently stayed on as Minister of Forests under new premier

. He declined to run in that year's provincial election, which saw the Socreds reduced to only seven seats in the legislature. Following Johnston's resignation in January 1992, Richmond ran again for party leader. In the November 1993 leadership election, he came in third place behind

Graham Bruce Graham Preston Bruce is a former Canadian politician who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, representing the electoral district of Cowichan-Malahat from 1986 to 1991 as part of the Social Credit Party (Socred), ...

and eventual winner Grace McCarthy on the second ballot, and was eliminated. While away from politics, Richmond conducted consultancy work in the resource sector, and served as managing director of Kamloops Airport Limited from 1997 to 2001.

Liberal Party

He returned to politics in 2001 by running again in Kamloops in that year's provincial election, this time for the BC Liberals. He defeated the incumbent

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

candidate

Cathy McGregor Catherine McGregor (born June 8, 1955) is a Canadian educator and political figure in British Columbia. She represented Kamloops in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1996 to 2001 as a British Columbia New Democratic Party (NDP) ...

to re-enter the legislature, and was chosen as

. After winning re-election in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, he was named to Premier Gordon Campbell's cabinet that June as Minister of Employment and Income Assistance. On May 9, 2008, he announced that he would not stand for re-election in the 2009 provincial election; he was dropped from the cabinet that June.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia - Claude Richmond
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richmond, Claude 1935 births Living people BC United MLAs British Columbia Social Credit Party MLAs British Columbia municipal councillors Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia Ministers of tourism of British Columbia People from Kamloops Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia