Richard Lee Collver (February 13, 1936 – August 7, 2014) led the Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative (PC) Party from 1973 to 1978. Born in Toronto,"Dick Collver the instant messiah brings Kremlin into the unity debate" by Allan Fotheringham, ''Montreal Gazette'', March 13, 1980
/ref> Collver earned an arts degree in economics from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

, and articled as an accountant for

Price Waterhouse PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along ...

in Calgary before moving to Saskatchewan in 1965. He was defeated in a run for the

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

mayoralty, but attracted the attention of the then-moribund Saskatchewan PC Party, and gained its leadership in 1973. The party under Collver began its road to revitalization, and won seven seats with over 28% of the vote in the 1975 election, including Collver's seat in

Nipawin Nipawin () is a town in Saskatchewan, Canada, on the Saskatchewan River portion of Tobin Lake. The town lies between Codette Lake, created by the Francois-Finlay Dam (built in 1986) and Tobin Lake, created by the E.B. Campbell Dam built i ...

. It became the official opposition after winning two

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 ...

s and convincing two

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

Members 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 nationa ...

(MLAs), including

Colin Thatcher Wilbert Colin Thatcher (born August 25, 1938) is a Canadian politician who was convicted for the murder of his ex-wife, JoAnn Wilson. Early life Colin Thatcher was born in Toronto, Ontario, on August 25, 1938. His father, Saskatchewan-born Ro ...

, to defect to the PCs. Though Collver's PCs won 38% of the vote and 17 MLAs in the 1978 election, Collver was disappointed with the result, feeling convinced he was going to win the election. He was facing lawsuits over his business endeavours, and became the target of attacks by the

Saskatchewan New Democratic Party The Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (Saskatchewan NDP or Sask NDP), branded as the Saskatchewan New Democrats, is a social democratic political party in Saskatchewan, Canada. The party was founded in 1932 as the Farmer-Labour Group and was kno ...

during the election. Collver stepped down as PC leader in 1979. He was charged with illegal possession and improper use of a firearm after he discharged a .357 Magnum gun from the window of his Regina apartment on the night of his resignation. He was still involved in a $1 million lawsuit with the Saskatchewan government at the time. He formed the

Unionest Party The Unionest Party was a political party in Saskatchewan, Canada, in the early 1980s. The party advocated for a union between the four Western Canadian provinces—British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba—and the United States. The ...

in 1980, which advocated the joining of Saskatchewan and other western Canadian provinces to the United States. The party soon folded, and Collver retired to a ranch he purchased in

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. According to a column in the ''Montreal Gazette'' by Allan Fotheringham, Collver claimed that the 1980 federal election proved that the Canadian federation could not work. Fotheringham quoted Collver as saying that he had ruled out independence for western Canada, as advocated by the

Western Canada Concept The Western Canada Concept was a Western Canadian federal political party founded in 1981 to promote the separation of the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, and the Yukon and Northwest Territories (which included ...

and other small parties at the time, because: :"Unfortunately, world events demand that those of us who believe in individual freedom and liberty must unite in the common cause against ever-increasing

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

domination of the world.

Balkanization Balkanization or Balkanisation is the process involving the fragmentation of an area, country, or region into multiple smaller and hostile units. It is usually caused by differences in ethnicity, culture, religion, and geopolitical interests. ...

will only invite weakness and subversive activity designed to thwart freedom-loving peoples." Collver briefly returned to Saskatchewan in 1984, to testify against Colin Thatcher in the trial that convicted him of the murder of his ex-wife Joanne Wilson. Collver said under oath that Thatcher, in a visit to Collver's ranch in Arizona, approached him for help in the search for a hit-man to kill Wilson. Collver died on August 7, 2014, in Thailand, where he had been living for the previous 12 years.

References

External links

Dick Collver's biography in the Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan

* ttps://saskarchives.com/sites/default/files/pdf/2019_elections_results_by_electoral_division.pdf Saskatchewan Archives Board – Saskatchewan Election Results By Electoral Division {{DEFAULTSORT:Collver, Dick 1936 births 2014 deaths Politicians from Toronto Leaders of the opposition of Saskatchewan Saskatchewan political party leaders 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan MLAs Western Canadian separatists