Richard L. Casson (born December 30, 1948, in

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 ...

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 ...

) is a

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. Casson was a member of the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

, representing the riding of

Lethbridge Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 106,550 in the 2023 Alberta municipal censuses, 2023 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...

from 1997 to 2011.

Before politics

Casson is a former manager of printing services. Casson was mayor of Picture Butte, Alberta from 1986 to 1995 and a councillor before that.

Entrance to politics

In the 1997 federal election Casson received 55.5% of the popular vote. He went on to receive 66% in the 2000 election, 63% support in the 2004 election and 67.3% in the 2006 election. He has been a member of the

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 2000 to 2003. The Canadian Alliance was the new name of the ...

(2000–2003) and the

Reform Party of Canada The Reform Party of Canada () was a right-wing populism, right-wing populist and conservative List of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada that existed from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada- ...

(1997–2000). Casson was the Chairman of the Standing Committee on National Defence and Co-Chair - Permanent Joint Board on Defence. In 2003, Rick Casson supported the Iraq war, and in spring 2006 voted yes to the extension of Canadian military deployment in Afghanistan to 2009. On January 7, 2010, Casson announced that he would not be running in the next election, which was held on May 2, 2011. On October 1, 2010, he was appointed to the

Queen's Privy Council for Canada The King's Privy Council for Canada (), sometimes called His Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council (PC), is the full group of personal advisors to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs. Practically, ...

in recognition of "many years of dedication and hard work in the House of Commons, including on Canada’s engagement in Afghanistan".

References

External links

Official siteHow'd They Vote?: Rick Casson's voting history and quotes
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Casson, Rick 1948 births Canadian Alliance MPs Conservative Party of Canada MPs Living people 20th-century mayors of places in Alberta Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Politicians from Lethbridge Politicians from Calgary Reform Party of Canada MPs 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada