Mike Pawlus (1923-2010) was a minor provincial level 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 led the right-wing Heritage Party of Alberta during the entire existence of the party.

Political career

After the Heritage Party was founded in 1984 and registered with

Elections Alberta Elections Alberta is an independent, non-partisan office of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta responsible for administering provincial elections, by-elections, and referendums within the province. This is in accordance with the Alberta Election ...

, Pawlus, a "semi-retired engineer and businessman," became leader. He first ran for a seat in the Alberta Legislature in the

Spirit River-Fairview Spirit River-Fairview was a provincial electoral district in northwestern Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post method of voting from 1971 to 1986. History Spi ...

by-election held on February 21, 1985. Pawlus and the Heritage Party won just 18 votes in the election, finishing last in a field of 17 candidates. He lost to Jim Gurnett of the New Democratic Party. Pawlus ran for his second attempt at office in the Edmonton-Whitemud by-election held on December 11, 1985. He improved his performance but still finished last and lost to Premier Don Getty this time, only winning 53 votes for a vote share of 0.54%. Pawlus led the Heritage Party into the failed coalition with the Western Canada Concept and

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 ...

that created the Alberta Political Alliance in 1986. The Heritage Party left the coalition and ran candidates under its own banner in the 1986 general election. Pawlus ran in the electoral district of

Edmonton-Mill Woods Edmonton-Mill Woods is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. It is one of 87 current electoral districts mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. T ...

, finishing last in the field of five candidates. He lost to New Democrat candidate Gerry Gibeault and garnered just 132 votes. Pawlus managed to field five other candidates earning 601 votes in total across the province. Pawlus did not return to provincial politics after the 1986 general election. Mike Pawlus died April 17, 2010, at the age of 86 in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pawlus, Mike Candidates in Alberta provincial elections Alberta political party leaders 2010 deaths 1923 births