Alan Lawrence Passarell (April 22, 1950 – September 29, 1986) was a Canadian politician who served as a Member of the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia is the deliberative assembly of the Parliament of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Legislative Assembly meets in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria. Members ar ...

representing the riding of Atlin from 1979 to 1986. He was in the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

until October 1985, when he switched to the

British Columbia Social Credit Party The British Columbia Social Credit Party, whose members are known as Socreds, was the governing provincial political party of British Columbia, Canada, for all but three years between the 1952 provincial election and the 1991 election. For fou ...

. Passarell lived in a log cabin without a telephone. Before becoming a politician, he was a school principal. In 1979, he won his seat by one vote, and was subsequently known as "Landslide Al". As a MLA, he was known for advocating positions for Northern British Columbia. He garnered headlines for his

tall tale A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some tall tales are exaggerations of actual events, for example fish stories ("the fish that got away") such as, "That fish was so big, why I tell ya', it n ...

about fighting a

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...

. Passarell died when a plane he was on crashed into

Dease Lake Dease Lake is a small community located in the Cassiar Country of the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It is located a few hours south of the Yukon border on Stewart–Cassiar Highway (Highway 37) at the south end of the lake o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Passarell, Al 1950 births 1986 deaths British Columbia New Democratic Party MLAs British Columbia Social Credit Party MLAs People from the Regional District of Kitimat–Stikine Politicians from Detroit Accidental deaths in British Columbia Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Canada Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1986