John Nilson (born July 9, 1951) is a retired

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

from

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 ...

. He was a

Saskatchewan New Democratic Party The Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (Saskatchewan NDP or Sask NDP), branded as the Saskatchewan New Democrats, is a social democratic political party in Saskatchewan, Canada. The party was founded in 1932 as the Farmer-Labour Group and was kno ...

member of the

Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan The Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan () is the legislative chamber of the Saskatchewan Legislature in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Bills passed by the assembly are given royal assent by the lieutenant governor of Saskatchewan, in the ...

for the Regina Lakeview constituency from 1995 to 2016. He served as interim leader of the party from 2011 to 2013.

Early life and career

Nilson was born in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

and was raised in Western Canada. He pursued his education at

Pacific Lutheran University Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) is a Private university, private Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Lutheran university in Parkland, Washington. It was founded by Norwegian Lutheran immigrants in 1890. PLU is sponsored by the 580 congreg ...

, the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

St. Olaf College St. Olaf College is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American pastors and farmers led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. The college is named after the King and th ...

, and 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 ...

, where he obtained his law degree in 1977. He was admitted to the

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

bar in 1978 and the Saskatchewan bar in 1979. He practiced law and mediation with Macpherson, Leslie and Tyerman until he was first elected to the Legislature in 1995.

Political career

Nilson was first elected in the 1995 provincial election, which resulted in a second consecutive majority government for the New Democrats (NDP) under

Roy Romanow Roy John Romanow (born August 12, 1939) is a Canadian politician who served as the 12th premier of Saskatchewan from 1991 to 2001. He was the leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party from 1987 until his retirement in 2001. He was the Mem ...

. Nilson was appointed Minister of Justice and Attorney General on November 22, 1995. Boasting Norwegian heritage, Nilson would become known for taking some time to speak Norwegian in the legislature each year on or around

Norwegian Constitution Day Constitution Day is the national day of Norway and is an official public holiday observed on 17 May each year. Among Norwegians, the day is referred to as ''Syttende mai'' ("Seventeenth of May"), ''Nasjonaldagen'' ("National Day"), or ''Grunnl ...

. In 1997, Nilson was accosted at the

legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...

by a man who claimed he was placing Nilson under

citizen's arrest A citizen's arrest is an arrest made by a private citizen – a person who is not acting as a sworn Police officer, law-enforcement official. In common law jurisdictions, the practice dates back to medieval England and the English common law, in wh ...

; the man was detained by security and charged with assault. The incident led to security reforms at the legislature. Nilson later served as Minister of Crown Investments Corporation, Minister of Health, and Minister of Environment. He became Saskatchewan's longest-serving health minister and in that role oversaw a ban on

smoking Smoking is a practice in which a substance is combusted, and the resulting smoke is typically inhaled to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream of a person. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, whi ...

in public spaces and the public display of cigarettes, which he later cited as a highlight of his career. The NDP lost the 2007 election to the

Saskatchewan Party The Saskatchewan Party (SP or Sask Party) is a conservative political party in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The party was founded in 1997 by a coalition of former provincial Progressive Conservative ...

, after which Nilson was named Opposition critic for Intergovernmental Affairs. Nilson was re-elected in the 2011 election; however, the NDP was reduced to just nine seats, and party leader

Dwain Lingenfelter Dwain Lingenfelter (born February 27, 1949) is a former Canadian politician from Shaunavon, Saskatchewan. He was a Saskatchewan New Democratic Party, New Democratic Party Member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan from 1978 to 1986, 19 ...

lost his own seat and resigned. In the wake of the election, Nilson was unanimously chosen as interim leader of the party until a new leader was elected. Nilson stated at the time that he would not run for the party leadership. As Opposition leader, Nilson unsuccessfully opposed the expansion of seats in the legislature from 58 to 61, and more successfully urged the government against extensive labour reforms, including a proposal to allow union members to opt out of paying union dues. On March 9, 2013,

Cam Broten Cameron Paul Broten (born April 29, 1978) is a Canadian politician. He represented the constituency of Saskatoon Massey Place in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan from 2007 to 2016 and served as the leader of the Saskatchewan New Democrat ...

was elected as the new leader at the party's

leadership convention {{Politics of Canada In Politics of Canada, Canadian politics, a leadership convention is held by a political party when the party needs to choose a leadership, leader due to a vacancy or a challenge to the incumbent leader. Overview In Canada, ...

. Nilson announced in December 2014 that he would not run in the next election and would be retiring from politics; he would continue to sit as an MLA until the Assembly was dissolved for the 2016 general election.

Electoral history

, - ,

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National Dev ...

, John Nilson , align="right", 3,860 , align="right", 48.38 , align="right", +0.76 , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", !align="right", 100.00 !align="right", , - ,

, John Nilson , align="right", 4,275 , align="right", 47.62 , align="right", -9,29 , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 8,976 !align="right", 100.00 !align="right", , - ,

, John Nilson , align="right", 4,988 , align="right", 56.91 , align="right", +7.60 , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 8,976 !align="right", 100.00 !align="right", , - ,

, John Nilson , align="right", 4,207 , align="right", 49.31 , align="right", -5.38 , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 8,976 !align="right", 100.00 !align="right", , - ,

, John Nilson , align="right", 4,807 , align="right", 54.69 , align="right", – , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 8,976 !align="right", 100.00 !align="right",

References

External links

Saskatchewan New Democrats: Regina Lakeview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nilson, John Canadian people of Norwegian descent Saskatchewan New Democratic Party MLAs 1951 births Living people Leaders of the opposition of Saskatchewan Politicians from Regina, Saskatchewan Politicians from Saskatoon Leaders of the Saskatchewan CCF/NDP Pacific Lutheran University alumni St. Olaf College alumni University of Oslo alumni University of British Columbia alumni 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan 21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan