James Douglas Henderson (January 2, 1927 – June 29, 2020) was a 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 in 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 ...

from 1963 to 1975, first as a member of the Social Credit Party and later as an independent. He served as a cabinet minister in the government of Harry Strom from 1969 to 1971.

Political career

Henderson was born in Okotoks, Alberta. He first ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature in the 1963 general election as the Social Credit candidate in the electoral district of Leduc. He defeated five other candidates, including incumbent Ronald Ansley, an independent Social Crediter, and Edmonton councillor Ron Hayter, a Liberal. In the 1967 general election Henderson defeated three other candidates by a larger margin of victory than in 1963. Henderson was appointed a

Commissioner of Oaths A notary public ( notary or public notary; notaries public) of the common law is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with general financial transactions, estates, deeds, powers- ...

on October 24, 1967. He was appointed Minister of Health and Minister of the Environment by Premier Harry Strom. In 1971, redistribution resulted in the abolition of the electoral district of Leduc, and Henderson ran in the new electoral district of Wetaskiwin-Leduc in the election held that year. Henderson won the seat by a narrow margin over Progressive Conservative candidate Emanuel Pyrcz. The Social Credit government was defeated, and Henderson and the remaining Social Credit MLAs moved to the Opposition benches. Strom resigned the party's leadership in 1972, and Henderson was named interim leader of the party and thus became

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

Werner Schmidt Werner George Schmidt (January 18, 1932 – March 29, 2024) was a Canadian politician, teacher, and school principal. Political career Schmidt was vice-president of Lethbridge Community College when he was chosen to succeed Harry Strom as lea ...

became party leader in 1973 but did not have a seat in the legislature, so Henderson continued as parliamentary leader and Leader of the Opposition for most of the year. However, he quit the party in September and sat as an independent. He retired at dissolution of the assembly in 1975.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, James Douglas Alberta Social Credit Party MLAs Independent Alberta MLAs 1927 births 2020 deaths People from Okotoks Members of the Executive Council of Alberta 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta