Ronald D. Ghitter (born August 22, 1935) 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 ...

lawyer and politician. He served as a member of 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 August 30, 1971, to March 13, 1979, sitting with the governing Progressive Conservative caucus. Ghitter was appointed to the

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada () is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, they compose the Bicameralism, bicameral le ...

on March 25, 1993, where he sat as a senator from Alberta until his retirement on March 31, 2000.

Life and career

Born 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 ...

, he received his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in 1956 and his

Bachelor of Law 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 ...

degree in 1959 from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

. He practised real estate law in Calgary. From 1986 to 1988, he was executive vice president of development at Trizec Corporation. He was first elected as a member of the

for the electoral district of Calgary-Buffalo in the

1971 Alberta general election The 1971 Alberta general election was the seventeenth general election held in the Province of Alberta, Canada on August 30, 1971, to elect seventy-five members of the Alberta Legislature The Alberta Legislature is the unicameral legislatur ...

, defeating popular

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium a ...

star Don Luzzi from the

Alberta Social Credit Party Alberta Social Credit was a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on social credit monetary policy put forward by C.H. Douglas, Clifford Hugh Douglas and on conservative Christian social values. The Canadian social credi ...

in a very tight race. He was elected again in 1975 and then retired, having served two terms. As a member of the Progressive Conservative caucus, Ghitter was a critic of many decisions made by his party, including purchasing

Pacific Western Airlines Pacific Western Airlines (PWA) was an airline that operated scheduled flights throughout western Canada and charter services around the world from the 1950s through the 1980s. In 1987, PWA purchased Canadian Pacific Air Lines, and the merged a ...

and the governments use of the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund. Ghitter announced he would not retire from the legislature in November 1978, and not contest the upcoming 1979 Alberta general election. Following revelations that Eckville school teacher James Keegstra had taught his students anti-semitic propaganda, Ghitter headed a Committee on Tolerance and Understanding. The committee investigated issues of tolerance and understanding within the educational system. This committee released its report to the government in 1984. Ghitter re-entered politics in 1985 to run for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party but came in third losing to

Don Getty Donald Ross Getty (August 30, 1933 – February 26, 2016) was a Canadian athlete, businessman, and politician who served as the 11th premier of Alberta between 1985 and 1992. Before entering politics, Getty had been a quarterback for the Edmon ...

. He was appointed to the Senate in 1993 representing the senatorial division of Alberta. From 1996 to 1999, he was the chair of the Senate Standing Committee of Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources. Sitting as a Progressive Conservative, he resigned in 2000. In 1990, he was awarded the Alberta Human Rights Award. He was awarded 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 May 11, 2018, for his work on human rights legislation and various social issues.

Electoral record

1975 general election

Party leadership contest

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghitter, Ron 1935 births Living people Canadian senators from Alberta Jewish Canadian politicians Members of the Order of Canada Politicians from Calgary Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs Progressive Conservative Party of Canada senators University of Alberta alumni University of Alberta Faculty of Law alumni 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta 20th-century members of the Senate of Canada