James Allen "Al" "Boomer" Adair (May 13, 1929 – December 24, 1996) was a minor league

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player, radio broadcaster and politician from

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada. He served in 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. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from sin ...

from 1971 to 1993.

Early life

Adair played minor league

for the Peace River Stampeders in the North Peace Baseball League in the 1960s. After baseball he was a well known radio broadcaster in Peace River until he ran for political office in 1971.

Political career

Adair first ran for the Alberta legislature in the 1971 general election. Running as a candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party, he defeated incumbent Social Credit MLA Robert Wiebe in the electoral district of

Peace River The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in th ...

. He was appointed to the cabinet by 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. Bo ...

and served as the minister without portfolio responsible for native affairs. Adair was re-elected in the 1975 general election over three other candidates. After the election, Lougheed appointed him Minister of Recreation, Parks and Wildlife. 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 g ...

, Adair easily defeated three other candidates to win the second highest popular vote of his political career. Adair reached the height of his popularity with a landslide win 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. Less than four years had passed since the Progressive Conservatives won their landslide victory in 1979. Premier Peter Lou ...

. When

Don Getty Donald Ross Getty (August 30, 1933 – February 26, 2016) was a Canadian politician who served as the 11th premier of Alberta between 1985 and 1992. A member of the Progressive Conservatives, he served as Energy Minister and Federal and Intergo ...

became Premier in 1985, Adair became the new Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs. After the 1986 general election he was transferred to the Ministry of Transportation and Utilities. 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 ele ...

he took 66% of the popular vote, the highest of his career. Adair was left out of the cabinet when

Ralph Klein Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 20 ...

became Premier in 1992. He retired from provincial politics with the dissolution of the Assembly in 1993.

Late life

After retiring from politics, Adair co-authored a book with Frank J. Dolphin titled ''Boomer: My Life with Peter, Don and Ralph'', which was published in 1994 by Polar Bear Publishing. He died of a heart attack on December 24, 1996, at the age of 67.Boomer' Adair dead at Age 67: INAL EditionSlade, Daryl. Calgary Herald algary, Alta26 Dec 1996: A.5. The Al 'Boomer' Adair Rec Centre in

, is named in his honor.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adair, Al 1929 births 1996 deaths Canadian sportsperson-politicians Members of the Executive Council of Alberta Politicians from Edmonton Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs Sportspeople from Edmonton

Early life

Political career

Late life

References

Further reading

External links