Gordon Wilbert Beard (September 27, 1921 – November 12, 1972) was a

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

in Manitoba,

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. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the

Manitoba Legislature The Legislature of Manitoba is the legislature of the province of Manitoba, Canada. Today, the legislature is made of two elements: the King of Canada in Right of Manitoba, represented by the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, and the unicameral ...

from 1963 to 1968, and an independent member from 1969 to 1972. Born in 1921, Beard was educated at Neepawa schools, and worked in a variety of projects in northern Manitoba. He served as President of Norrec Ltd., and Secretary of Arctic Investments Ltd., as well as becoming President of the Northern Restaurants Association through a hotel project that he owned. He served in the

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from 1942 to 1945, attaining the rank of Sergeant. In 1960, he moved to Thompson. Beard was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in January 1963, in a deferred race from the 1962 general election. Running in the vast northern constituency of Churchill, he defeated Liberal candidate

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by 197 votes. He was re-elected by a greater margin in the 1966 election. Beard resigned from the Progressive Conservative Party and stepped down as an MLA in 1968, complaining that the PC government was neglecting northern affairs. He later attended the

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's nomination meeting for the

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that chose his successor.''Winnipeg Free Press'', 6 January 1969, p. 3. He ran as an independent in the 1969 election, and narrowly defeated three other candidates to regain the Churchill riding. For the next three years, Beard was a legitimately independent MLA—siding with or against the NDP government of

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on a case-by-case basis. He died in Thompson of a

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on November 12, 1972. He was married to Mabel and had two children, Holly Christine Beard, who later served on Thompson city council and as an appeal court judge, and William Fredrick Beard. The Gordon Beard arena in Thompson was named in his honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beard, Gordon Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba MLAs 1921 births 1972 deaths People from Neepawa, Manitoba Canadian Army personnel of World War II