Lorne Edmund Nystrom, (born April 26, 1946) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) 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 ...

politician and was a

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 to 1993 and again from 1997 to 2004. He is a member of the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * ...

. Nystrom has been a prominent figure in the New Democratic Party for most of his career.

Parliamentary career

Born in

Wynyard, Saskatchewan Wynyard is a town in eastern Saskatchewan, Canada, 132 km west of Yorkton and 190 km east of Saskatoon. Wynyard is in but not part of the rural municipality of Big Quill No. 308. It is located on the Yellowhead Highway just south of ...

, he was first elected for

Yorkton—Melville Yorkton—Melville is a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1968. Geography The district is in east-central Saskatchewan. History The electoral district was cre ...

1968 The year was highlighted by Protests of 1968, protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechos ...

. At the age of 22 years and three months, he was the youngest MP in Canadian history, a record he held until

Claude-André Lachance Claude-André Lachance (born April 5, 1954) is a former Canadian politician. At the time of his election, aged 20, Lachance was the youngest person ever to be elected to the House of Commons of Canada, and held this record until the election of 1 ...

was elected at the age of 20 in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of President of the United States, United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom K ...

. He was reelected without serious difficulty until losing to

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...

challenger

Garry Breitkreuz Garry W. Breitkreuz (pronounced Bright-Krites) (born October 21, 1945) is a Canadian politician. He was the Conservative Party of Canada member of the House of Commons of Canada for Yorkton—Melville from 1993 to 2015. He was formerly a member ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. He returned to Parliament in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

in the riding of Qu'Appelle, succeeding fellow New Democrat Simon De Jong. Nystrom faced a strong challenge for re-election in the riding, renamed Regina—Qu'Appelle in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, after the Progressive Conservatives unexpectedly failed to nominate a candidate. However, Nystrom managed to eke out a narrow victory over

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed u ...

challenger Don Leier. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, Nystrom lost to

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

candidate, future

House Speaker The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerfo ...

and Leader of the Official Opposition

Andrew Scheer Andrew James Scheer (born May 20, 1979) is a Canadian politician who has served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Regina—Qu'Appelle since 2004. Scheer served as the 35th speaker of the House of Commons from 2011 to 2015, and was the le ...

. Scheer won by a margin of 861 votes. The NDP renominated Nystrom to challenge Scheer at the next federal election in 2005; in the

2006 election The following elections occurred in the year 2006. * Elections in 2006 * Electoral calendar 2006 * 2006 Acehnese regional election * 2006 American Samoan legislative election * 2006 Bahraini parliamentary election * 2006 Costa Rican presidential ...

, he lost again, this time by a larger margin of 2,740 votes. Nystrom edited a book on practical progressive economics, ''Just Making Change: The 100 Percent, Honest to Goodness Truth About our User Unfriendly Financial System and How to Escape It'', published in hardcover in 1999 and paperback in 2000.

Career outside of Parliament

Nystrom ran for the leadership of the federal NDP three times, placing third in each. In

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, he finished behind winner Ed Broadbent and runner-up Rosemary Brown. Twenty years later, in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

, Nystrom ran again but placed behind

Svend Robinson Svend Robinson (born March 4, 1952) is a Canadian politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2004, who represented suburban Vancouver-area constituencies of Burnaby for the New Democratic Party (NDP). He is noted as the first me ...

and winner

Alexa McDonough Alexa Ann McDonough ( Shaw; August 11, 1944 – January 15, 2022) was a Canadian politician who became the first woman to lead a major, recognized political party in Nova Scotia, when she was elected the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party's (NSN ...

. His final attempt to win the party's leadership was in the

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

election that ultimately selected Jack Layton; Nystrom finished in third behind Layton and

Bill Blaikie William Alexander Blaikie (June 19, 1951 – September 24, 2022) was a Canadian politician. He served as a member of Parliament (MP) from 1979 to 2008, representing Elmwood—Transcona and its antecedent ridings in the House of Commons of Canad ...

. In 1992, he was appointed to the

Queen's Privy Council for Canada The 's Privy Council for Canada (french: Conseil privé du Roi pour le Canada),) during the reign of a queen. sometimes called Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council (PC), is the full group of personal consultants to the ...

. As of 2012, Nystrom is a board member of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA). Nystrom has also been involved with Brightenview Development International Inc. as the VP of Government Relations and CEO of Brightenvantage International Business Consulting Inc., a subsidiary of Brightenview.

Electoral record

References

External links

Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nystrom, Lorne 1946 births Living people New Democratic Party MPs Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Saskatchewan Members of the United Church of Canada Canadian people of Swedish descent People from Wynyard, Saskatchewan 21st-century Canadian politicians