James Deverell Horsman, (born July 29, 1935) is 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 1975 to 1993 and held numerous cabinet portfolios in the government of Alberta.

Early life

James Deverell Horsman was born in Camrose,

in 1935 to George Cornwall Horsman and Kathleen Deverell Horsman. He grew up in Meeting Creek with his grandparents while his mother and father served overseas in

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. His family later moved to

Moose Jaw Moose Jaw is the List of cities in Saskatchewan, fourth largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Lying on the Moose Jaw River in the south-central part of the province, it is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Regina, Saskatchewan, Re ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. Horsman moved west in the 1950s to study at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

. At UBC, Horsman attained a

Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (BCom or B Com) is an undergraduate degree in commerce, accounting, mathematics, economics, and management-related subjects. The degree is mainly offered in Commonwealth nations. Structure Bachelor of Commerce The Bac ...

degree in 1959 and a year later attained a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

. During this time Horsman participated in a number of extracurricular activities including being a member of UBC Alma Mater Society, the coordinator of activities and the coordinator of publications. After university, Horsman moved back east to

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 ...

to start practicing law, and moved to

Medicine Hat Medicine Hat is a city in Southern Alberta, southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff, Alberta, R ...

a short time later after visiting family and meeting a potential law partner. After moving to Medicine Hat he met Betty Whitney, a local high school teacher; they would get married on July 4, 1964 and have three daughters.

Political career

Horsman became involved in the Alberta Progressive Conservatives in the early 1960s. He served on the party's executive council as vice president for Southern Alberta before running for political office. Horsman first ran for a seat to the 16th Alberta Legislature in the 1967 general election, in the electoral district of

. He was defeated by Social Credit incumbent MLA Harry Leinweber. Horseman would run again in the Medicine Hat-Redcliff electoral district in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

and lost to Social Credit candidate William Wyse. Horsman ran against Wyse again in the 1975 general election and was successful this time, defeating Wyse by 100 votes. In 1979 Medicine Hat-Redcliff was abolished due to redistribution, and Horsman ran for re-election in

that year. He won by nearly 8,000 votes over his nearest opponent. Horsman won by another large majority in the 1982 general election. Horsman's share of the vote was cut in half in the 1986 general election, but he still won by a comfortable margin. He won again handily in the 1989 general election. He retired from the Assembly at dissolution in 1993. Horsman would serve a number of roles in provincial cabinet including Minister of Advanced Education and Manpower, Minister of Federal and Intergovernmental Affairs, Attorney General and Provincial Secretary, Government House Leader and Deputy Premier. As Minister of Federal and Intergovernmental Affairs Horsman was responsible for constitutional negotiations for the 10 years following the

Patriation Patriation is the political process that led to full Canadian sovereignty, culminating with the '' Constitution Act, 1982''. The process was necessary because, at the time, under the '' Statute of Westminster, 1931'', and with Canada's agreemen ...

of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

until the

Charlottetown Accord The Charlottetown Accord () was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada, proposed by the Canada, Canadian federal and provincial governments in 1992. It was submitted to a public referendums in Canada, referendum on October ...

Late life

After leaving political office, Horsman became Alberta's chief

NAFTA The North American Free Trade Agreement (, TLCAN; , ALÉNA), referred to colloquially in the Anglosphere as NAFTA, ( ) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that created a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The ...

negotiator. Horsman continued to serve on numerous other boards and public service roles, including as chair of the board of governors for Medicine Hat College and later as chancellor for the

University of Lethbridge The University of Lethbridge (also known as uLethbridge, uLeth, and U of L) is a public comprehensive and research university located in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, with a second campus in Calgary, Alberta. Founded in the liberal arts traditio ...

from 1999 to 2003. Horsman would be awarded with an honorary

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

from the University of Lethbridge. Horsman was number of awards including Queen Elizabeth II Silver and Golden Jubilee Medals, the Governor General’s 125th Anniversary Medal and the Alberta Centennial Medal. Horsman was appointed as a member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

on April 6, 2006, his award cited his history in public service, volunteering and advocacy for a strong public education system. As a member of the Order of Canada Horsman has continued to preside over citizenship ceremonies in the Southern Alberta region.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
* *
University of British Columbia - Peter A. Allard School of Law - Alumni Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horsman, Jim 1935 births Canadian Presbyterians Living people Members of the Alberta Order of Excellence Members of the Executive Council of Alberta Members of the Order of Canada People from Camrose, Alberta Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs Peter A. Allard School of Law alumni 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta