Gordon Kesler (born 1945) is a Canadian retired politician 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 ...
. Politically, he is an
Albertan separatist.
Career
Kesler's surprise victory in the February 1982 by-election for the
Western Canada Concept received national media attention. Kesler was the first separatist politician elected in Canada outside of
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
since the 1870s, although his activities were primarily related to opposing official bilingualism and the introduction of the metric system.
After the win, Kesler became leader of the party. He won the
Olds-Didsbury electoral district defeating
Stephen Stiles of the Progressive Conservatives and Lloyd Quantz of
Social Credit
Social credit is a distributive philosophy of political economy developed in the 1920s and 1930s by C. H. Douglas. Douglas attributed economic downturns to discrepancies between the cost of goods and the compensation of the workers who made t ...
and three other candidates.
During the
1982 general election, held two-and-a-half months later in November, Kesler lost his seat despite Western Canada Concept fielding a full slate. He had shifted districts to his home district of
Highwood after promising to move to
Olds-Didsbury if elected. The time he served was the second shortest between election and defeat in the legislature's history.
Harry Alger from the Progressive Conservatives defeated him with a five thousand vote plurality.
In a 1983 letter to the editor of the ''
Alberta Report
The ''Alberta Report'' was a conservative weekly newsmagazine based in Edmonton. It was founded and edited by Ted Byfield, and later run by his son, Link Byfield. It ceased publication in 2003.
Promoting his own Western Standard, successor publ ...
'',
Doug Christie, founder of the Western Canada Concept, accused Gordon Kesler of betraying separatism.
Doug Christie Letter to the editor
/ref> Kesler and his party had been striving to distance themselves from the controversial Christie.
Electoral record
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Personal life
Kesler lives in Arizona.
References
External links
Alberta Legislative Assembly votes and proceedings Statement by the Speaker
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kesler, Gordon
1948 births
Living people
Western Canada Concept MLAs (Alberta)
Western Canadian separatists
20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
Canadian emigrants to the United States