- Lorne Calvert
Infobox Prime Minister
honorific-prefix =Reverend
name = Lorne Albert Calvert
honorific-suffix = MLA BA
| caption = Lorne Calvert
office1 = 13thPremier of Saskatchewan
term_start1 =February 8 ,2001
term_end1 =November 21 ,2007
predecessor1 =Roy Romanow
successor1 =Brad Wall
office3 = Leader of the Opposition
term_start3 =November 21 ,2007
term_end3 =
predecessor3 =Brad Wall
successor3 =
birth_date = birth date and age|1952|12|24
birth_place =Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
death_date =
death_place =
party = NDP
spouse = Betty Sluzalo
religion =United Church of Canada |Lorne Albert Calvert MLA (born
December 24 ,1952 inMoose Jaw, Saskatchewan ) is the former premier of the Canadian province ofSaskatchewan and current leader ofHer Majesty's Loyal Opposition . He is the leader of theSaskatchewan New Democratic Party .In 1975, Calvert married Betty Sluzalo of
Perdue, Saskatchewan . After attending theSt. Andrew's College seminary in Saskatoon, he was ordained as minister of theUnited Church of Canada in 1976 and served as minister of several rural congregations. From 1979 to 1986, Calvert was the minister of the substantial pastoral charge of Zion United Church in Moose Jaw.He entered provincial politics in the 1986 provincial election, running as a New Democrat on a platform of prohibiting the construction of a proposed casino in Moose Jaw. He was elected to the
Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan as theMember of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for theconstituency of Moose Jaw South.He was re-elected in the 1991 and 1995 elections in the riding of
Moose Jaw Wakamow , and in a 2001 by-election in former premierRoy Romanow 's riding ofSaskatoon Riversdale .Following the resignation of NDP leader and Premier
Roy Romanow , Calvert won the NDP leadership, and became premier onFebruary 8 ,2001 .Calvert and the NDP narrowly defeated the centre-right opposition
Saskatchewan Party in the 2003 provincial election. The NDP won 30 seats of the 58 seats in theelection . During the campaign, Calvert apologized for an internal cartoon that had been leaked to the media. It depictedSaskatchewan Party leaderElwin Hermanson loading NDP sympathizers onto rail cars. The cartoon referred to speculation that, if elected, Hermanson would replace civil servants who were NDP supporters with Saskatchewan Party supporters.B'nai Brith Canada stated that the cartoon "trivializes the crimes of theHolocaust and causes undeserved anguish to those who survived that evil regime". [ [http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2003/10/14/cartoon031014.html] [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1066228569054_61637769///?hub=Canada] [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031014.wndp1014/BNStory/National/] ]He has been featured in one of the episodes of "
Corner Gas ", a comedy series set in Saskatchewan.Calvert was also engaged in a war of words with federal Conservative MP
Maurice Vellacott over how the clawback of non-renewable resource revenues from the equalization formula as implemented in the 2007 federal budget. Calvert argued that the province would get less under the new federal formula. [ [http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/194620 TheStar.com - News - Tory MP calls Sask. premier 'liar' ] ]Calvert and his government were defeated in the 2007 provincial election, dropping to 20 seats while the
Saskatchewan Party underBrad Wall won a majority government with 38. He has not yet made any formal announcement about his future in politics, although federalNew Democratic Party spokesmanBrad Lavigne told reporters that the party had asked Calvert to consider standing as a candidate in the40th Canadian federal election . [ [http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/local/story.html?id=811a39f0-4d5f-4d60-8aef-441a7d0576f1 "Federal NDP woo Calvert for election"] , "Saskatoon StarPhoenix ",November 20 ,2007 .] Calvert declined the offer, although he stated that he would work hard to assist the party's federal candidates [ [http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/story.html?id=67a5ea80-b1db-48d2-9089-2117f06a97a5&k=8191 "Calvert all but rules out federal politics"] , "Regina Leader-Post ",November 23 ,2007 .] .References
External links
* [http://www.lornecalvert.ca Lorne Calvert, MLA]
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