George Ho Lem Sr. (何榮禧) (June 15, 1918 – July 9, 2005) was a Canadian politician, businessman, and community leader from

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Early life, business career and community service

George Ho Lem was born in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

, in 1918. His mother Mary Ho Lem was the first recorded female Chinese resident of Calgary. He started a successful dry cleaning business and was also a successful restaurateur. He was also a horse breeder who won two Alberta Derbies and was once declared

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

breeder of the year. He served as a director of

Stampede Park The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, exhibition, and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year and fea ...

for 18 years, and was granted a lifetime membership as an honorary director. He also served as a president of the Calgary Junior Chamber of Commerce, and as a chairman of the board of the Calgary Auxiliary Hospital for sixteen years. He was a founding director of the Metropolitan Calgary Foundation and a long-standing member of the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium a ...

Football Booster Club. His interest in sports led him to Co-chair the

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from 3 to 12 August, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics was held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with a ...

held in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

. He was also very active in the Calgary Chinese community. Few of the organizations he was involved with were the Sien Lok Society, the Oi Kwan Society, the Calgary Chinatown Development Foundation and the Calgary Multicultural Society. He served as a founder, president or chairman of most of these groups.

Politics

Ho Lem began his political career in 1959 as an alderman of the City of Calgary. He polled the most votes of the sixteen candidates in that year's election. He was the second person of Chinese descent to win a municipal election in Canada. He was re-elected in 1962, and served a total of six years on city council. In 1969, he was the manager of Rod Sykes's mayoral campaign. Ho Lem was elected to 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. Since 2012 the Legislative Assembly has had 87 members, elected first past the post f ...

in the 1971 general election in the electoral district of Calgary McCall under the banner of the Social Credit Party. He was the first person of Chinese descent elected to the Alberta Legislature. During his term in the Assembly, he served on the Law and Regulations, Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing, and Public Affairs committees. He also served on the Select Special Committee on Foreign Investment. He was defeated in the 1975 election by Progressive Conservative candidate Andrew Little. He ran for Parliament in the

1980 Canadian Federal Election The 1980 Canadian federal election was held on February 18, 1980, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 32nd Canadian Parliament, 32nd Parliament of Canada. It was called when the budget of the minority government, minority Pr ...

Calgary Centre Calgary Centre (; formerly known as Calgary South Centre) is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1968. The riding consists of many young adults who have a relativ ...

as a member of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. He was defeated by incumbent

Harvie Andre Harvie Andre, (July 27, 1940 – October 21, 2012) was a Canadian engineer, businessman, politician and federal Cabinet minister. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Andre was educated at the University of Alberta (’62, PhD ’66) and pursued part of ...

of the Progressive Conservative Party. The Legislative Assembly of Alberta paid special tribute to Ho Lem's accomplishments on November 20, 2001

External links

George Ho Lem guest introduction and tribute, Alberta Legislative Assembly Hansard November 20, 2001

Death Notice George Ho Lem, Alberta Legislative Assembly Hansard

City of Calgary Aldermanic gallery, George Ho Lem page 146
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ho Lem, George 1918 births 2005 deaths Calgary city councillors Candidates in the 1980 Canadian federal election Alberta Social Credit Party MLAs Liberal Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons Canadian people of Chinese descent Alberta candidates for Member of Parliament 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta