William Edward Payne (born July 4, 1933) is a former provincial 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 Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. 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 1979 to 1993, sitting with the governing Progressive Conservative caucus. Premier

Peter Lougheed Edgar Peter Lougheed ( ; July 26, 1928 – September 13, 2012) was a Canadian lawyer and Progressive Conservative politician who served as the tenth premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985, presiding over a period of reform and economic growth. ...

appointed Payne to the

Executive Council of Alberta The Executive Council of Alberta (the Cabinet) is a body of ministers of the Crown in right of Alberta, who along with the lieutenant governor, exercises the powers of the Government of Alberta. Ministers are selected by the premier and typic ...

. He briefly served as a minister without portfolio from 1982 to 1986. Payne is a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

.Roy A. Prete and Carma Prete,ed., ''Canadian Mormons: The History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Canada'' (Salt Lake City: BYU Religious Studies Center and Deseret Book, 2017), p. 265

Political career

Payne ran as a Progressive Conservative candidate in the

1979 Alberta general election The 1979 Alberta general election was held on March 14, 1979, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, which had been expanded to 79 seats. The Progressive Conservative Party of Peter Lougheed won its third consecutive term in ...

in the electoral district of

Calgary-Fish Creek Calgary-Fish Creek is a Provinces and territories of Canada, provincial electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using ...

. He won his first term, defeating three other candidates with a landslide majority. Payne ran for a second term in office in the

1982 Alberta general election The 1982 Alberta general election was held on November 2, 1982, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. History Less than four years had passed since the Progressive Conservatives won their landslide victory in 1979. Premie ...

. He increased his majority, finishing nearly 15,000 votes ahead of second place candidate Byron Chenger of the

Western Canada Concept The Western Canada Concept was a Western Canadian federal political party founded in 1981 to promote the separation of the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, and the Yukon and Northwest Territories (which included ...

. After the election Payne was appointed minister without portfolio by Premier

. He held that cabinet portfolio for a single term. Payne won his third term, losing almost 10,000 votes from his 1982 total running in the

1986 Alberta general election The 1986 Alberta general election was held on May 8, 1986, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Peter Lougheed, who had created the modern Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, Alberta Progressive Conservatives, ...

. He still finished well ahead, winning the district with a third consecutive landslide. He ran for his fourth and final term in the

1989 Alberta general election The 1989 Alberta general election was held on March 20, 1989, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Many political observers were surprised by the early election call as less than three years had passed since the previous el ...

. His popular vote dropped again as support for Liberal candidate Wayne Gillis surged, finishing approximately 1,500 votes behind Payne. He retired at dissolution of the Assembly in 1993.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
1933 births Living people Canadian Latter Day Saints Members of the Executive Council of Alberta Politicians from Windsor, Ontario Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta {{Alberta-MLA-stub