Jack Weisgerber

Infobox_Politician
name = Jack Weisgerber
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caption =
birth_date =
birth_place =
residence =
office = MLA for Peace River South
term_start = 1986
term_end = 2001
predecessor =
successor = Blair Lekstrom
party = Social Credit, BC Reform
religion =
occupation =

Jack Weisgerber is a Canadian politician and businessman. He is a former member of the Legislative Assembly in British Columbia. During his political career he was briefly the leader of both the British Columbia Social Credit Party and the Reform Party of British Columbia. After leaving politics, he was appointed to the board of BC Hydro in 2001, and currently serves as a member of the British Columbia Treaty Commission.

Political career

Weisgerber was first elected to the British Columbia legislature in 1986 as a Social Credit Party of British Columbia candidate for Peace River South. He served in the Social Credit government in several posts including Minister of State for the Northeast and Nechako, Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, and as British Columbia's first Minister of Native Affairs.

When Social Credit was soundly defeated in 1991, Weisgerber was one of only seven Socred candidates to win re-election. Weisgerber became interim leader of the party.

In 1994, after failed attempts to revive the party, Weisgerber became one of four Social Credit members of the legislature to switch allegiances, joining the fledgling Reform Party of British Columbia. BC Reform, as it was known, espoused similar policies to the Reform Party of Canada, but was a separate entity.

Weisgerber ran for the BC Reform leadership and was elected party leader in late 1994. Through 1995 and in the months before the 1996 election, Weisgerber faced challenges by some members of his party from southern Vancouver Island.

In the May 1996 election, the BC Reform Party won nine percent of the popular vote and two seats in the legislature, one of which was Weisgerber's in Peace River South. However, the party failed to win the four seats required for official party status in the British Columbia legislature. A split in the centre-right vote between Weisgerber's BC Reform Party and Gordon Campbell's Liberals is cited as a factor for the New Democratic Party winning the 1996 BC election.

Weisgerber resigned as BC Reform's leader in late 1996, and was replaced by Wilf Hanni in September of 1997. Following a bruising round of party in-fighting, Weisgerber left Reform to sit as an independent member of the BC legislature.

Weisgerber served out his third and final term in the BC legislature. Shortly before the 2001 provincial election, Weisgerber endorsed the BC Liberals and their leader, Gordon Campbell.

He was appointed by the BC Liberal government to be a director for the state-run provincial power utility, BC Hydro, on September 25, 2001.

He is presently a Commissioner of the British Columbia Treaty Commission [ [http://www.bctreaty.net/files/bios.php Commissioner Bios: About Us: BC Treaty Commission ] ] .

References