Halvar de la Cluyse Jonson (August 14, 1941 – December 2, 2016) was a teacher and high school principal. He was also a long serving provincial 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 ...

, Canada. He served as a member of 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 ...

and cabinet minister in the provincial government from 1982 until 2004.

Early life

Jonson was born in Athabasca,

, Canada on August 14, 1941. He served as president of the Alberta Teachers' Association from 1976 until 1977.

Political career

Jonson was first elected to the Alberta Legislature in the

1982 Alberta general election The 1982 Alberta general election was held on November 2, 1982, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. History Less than four years had passed since the Progressive Conservatives won their landslide victory in 1979. Premie ...

. He defeated Tom Butterfield from the Western Canada Concept and three other candidates to win his first term in office. His win held the Ponoka electoral district for the Progressive Conservatives. Due to redistribution of electoral district boundaries in the

1986 Alberta general election The 1986 Alberta general election was held on May 8, 1986, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Peter Lougheed, who had created the modern Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, Alberta Progressive Conservatives, ...

Ponoka was abolished and re-created as Ponoka-Rimbey. Jonson ran for his second term in the new electoral district and won easily defeating three other candidates. He stood for a third term in office in the 1989 Alberta general election fending off a strong challenge from Doug Hart of the New Democrats and one other candidate. Jonson would see his popular vote grow in his bid for a fourth term for office in the 1993 Alberta general election. He was easily reelected defeating four other candidates. He would be returned for a fifth consecutive term. The race for the 1997 Alberta general election would see support build for second place Randy Jones 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 ...

. Jonson would see his popular support marginally drop but still win the electoral district by a wide margin. In the 2001 Alberta general election, Jonson would set a personal record for the largest plurality of his career. He would be returned to the Legislature in a landslide for his sixth and final term. Jonson retired at dissolution of the Legislature in 2004. His electoral district of Ponoka-Rimbey was abolished due to redistribution.

Late life and legacy

In honour of Jonson's public service the provincial government renamed the brain injury ward of the Alberta Hospital Ponoka, the Halvar Jonson Centre for Brain Injury in Ponoka,

In recognition of Jonson's work in championing legislation that led to the establishment of charter schools in Alberta, the Association of Alberta Public Charter Schools established the Halvar Jonson Award in 2012. The award is presented annually to those who have given of their time, energy, influence and expertise to enhance the success of charter schools in Alberta. Jonson died on December 2, 2016, at the age of 75.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jonson, Halvar 1941 births 2016 deaths Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs People from Athabasca, Alberta People from Ponoka County Members of the Executive Council of Alberta 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta