Gordon Taylor

For the president of the Professional Footballers Association, see Gordon Taylor (footballer).

Gordon Edward Taylor (July 20, 1910 - July 26, 2003) was a Canadian politician, businessman and teacher.

Provincial political career

He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the 1940 provincial election representing Drumheller for Social Credit and continued to sit in the legislature for 39 years. He survived the 1971 defeat of the Social Credit government and remained in the legislature until 1979. Taylor was Social Credit's parliamentary whip from 1943 to 1950. From 1951 to 1971, he served as Minister of Highways in the governments of Ernest Manning and Harry Strom. During his tenure, 8,401 kilometers of highways were paved, and Highway 2 between Calgary and Edmonton was planned.^[1] He was also minister of telephones from 1950 to 1959. While a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) during World War II, he also served with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Taylor ran twice for the party leadership, coming in second to Harry Strom in the 1968 leadership election to replace Ernest Manning and coming in third in the 1973 leadership race.

As an opposition MLA in the 1970s, Taylor broke with Social Credit over his support for the Lougheed government's plan to provide gasoline to farmers, a measure the Social Credit party opposed. Taylor also felt the Social Credit caucus was "moving to the left" and was supporting the federal Liberals. As a result, Taylor sat as an Independent Social Credit MLA supporting Peter Lougheed, and was re-elected as such in the 1975 provincial election. He supported the Lougheed government during his last term in the legislature, planned to cross the floor to sit join the Alberta Progressive Conservatives on the last day before the legislature was dissolved in 1979, and then run as a Progressive Conservative in the 1979 provincial election.^[2]

Federal political career

Early in 1979, Gordon Taylor was approached to run for the Canadian House of Commons as a Progressive Conservative candidate in the 1979 federal election in Bow River, Alberta. He defeated incumbent Member of Parliament Stanley Schumacher for the PC nomination. Schumacher has refused to step aside for party leader Joe Clark, who riding was being merged with Schumacher's as a result of redistribution. After Clark decided to run in another riding, Taylor defeated Schumacher for the party nomination, and then in the federal election when Schuamcher stood as an independent candidate. Taylor remained in parliament until he retired at the 1988 federal election.

Taylor became known for hosting an annual hockey game between the Members of Parliament and the House of Commons Parliamentary Pages.

References

1. ^ The Alberta 100
2. ^ Nancy Pawelek, "Interview: Gordon Taylor, MLA", Canadian Parliamentary Review, vol 8, no 3 (1985).

External links

• Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing

Legislative Assembly of Alberta
Preceded by Herbert Ingrey	MLA Drumheller 1940 – 1963	Succeeded by Lewis Clark
	MLA Drumheller-Gleichen 1963 – 1971
	MLA Drumheller 1971 – 1979
Parliament of Canada
Preceded by Eldon Woolliams	Member of Parliament Bow River 1979 – 1988	District abolished

Persondata
Name	Taylor, Gordon
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 20, 1910
Place of birth
Date of death	July 26, 2003
Place of death