Alan Gilmore Buchanan (born October 28, 1952) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

university administrator and former politician from

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...

. A native of the rural farming hamlet of

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

in southeastern Queens County, Buchanan is a graduate of the

University of Prince Edward Island The University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI) is a public university in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, and the only university in the province. Founded in 1969, the enabling legislation is the ''University Act, R.S.P.E.I 2000.'' H ...

and Queen's University. Buchanan served as a MLA in the

Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island The Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island (french: Assemblée législative de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard) is the sole chamber of the General Assembly of Prince Edward Island. The Legislative Assembly meets at Province House, which is locate ...

during the administrations of

Joe Ghiz Joseph Atallah Ghiz (January 27, 1945 – November 9, 1996) was the 27th premier of Prince Edward Island from 1986 to 1993, an educator of law and a justice of the Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island. He was the father of Robert Ghiz, the 31s ...

and

Catherine Callbeck Catherine Sophia Callbeck (born July 25, 1939) is a Canadian retired politician and the current and ninth Chancellor of the University of Prince Edward Island. She was the 28th premier of Prince Edward Island from 1993 to 1996, the third fema ...

, holding several cabinet positions, including Minister of Provincial Affairs and Minister of Health. Buchanan has also held positions as a senior bureaucrat and policy advisor as well as a university lecturer. He was appointed to the

Law Commission of Canada The Law Commission of Canada was an independent law commission that gave advice to the Canadian government on matters of law. The body was created in 1971 as the Law Reform Commission of Canada and was disbanded in 1992. The body was reestablished ...

from 1999 to 2003. Buchanan ran in the 2003 leadership race for the

Prince Edward Island Liberal Party The Prince Edward Island Liberal Party (officially the ''Prince Edward Island Liberal Association'') is a political party in the province of Prince Edward Island, Canada. The PEI Liberals are affiliated with the federal Liberal Party of Canada. H ...

but narrowly lost to

Robert Ghiz Robert Watson Joseph Ghiz (born January 21, 1974) is a Canadian politician who served as the 31st premier of Prince Edward Island from 2007 to 2015. He is the son of the 27th premier, Joe Ghiz. On November 13, 2014 Ghiz announced he would be res ...

. In 2017 along with former PEI politicians like

Cynthia Dunsford Cynthia King Dunsford (born May 22, 1962) is a Canadian politician. Early life Born and raised in Moncton, New Brunswick, King Dunsford attended Hillcrest School and Moncton High School. She worked in the family business, King Sports Ltd., durin ...

also a former Liberal MLA and

James Rodd James Rodd (January 29, 1956) was the leader of the New Democratic Party of Prince Edward Island from November 2007 when he was selected as interim leader at the party's annual general meeting following the resignation of Dean Constable. Rodd was ...

the former Province's New Democratic Party leader from 2007 to 2012, did officially join the Province's

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

due their party's member

Hannah Bell Hannah Bell (born 9 August 1969) is a Canadian politician who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island from 13 December 2017 to 6 March 2023. She represents the electoral district of Charlottetown-Belvedere as a m ...

won by-election in

Charlottetown-Parkdale Charlottetown-Parkdale was a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island, Canada. It was created prior to the 2007 election from parts of Sherwood-Hillsborough, Parkdale-Belvedere and Charlottetown-Kings Squa ...

which becoming first time in PEI politics that third party won in by-election nd shared interest of Party's issue of promoting voting reform for province into adopting

Proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

as their way to vote.

Personal life

Buchanan subsequently worked as an Inter-Government Communication Officer with

Island Telecom Island Telecom Inc. was a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian internet service provider in Prince Edward Island. Its headquarters is located in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Summerside. In 2014 a group of Internet Service Providers in Pri ...

and later

Aliant Bell Aliant is a brand name used by Bell Canada for telecommunications services in Atlantic Canada. Prior to 2015, Bell Aliant Inc. (formerly Aliant Inc.) was a separate company providing telecom services in the Atlantic provinces and a few ot ...

, as well as forming his own consulting and communication company. In June 2005 he was appointed to the position as

Registrar A registrar is an official keeper of records made in a register. The term may refer to: Education * Registrar (education), an official in an academic institution who handles student records * Registrar of the University of Oxford, one of the sen ...

at his alma mater, the University of Prince Edward Island. Buchanan has contributed articles to the journal ''Canadian Ethnic Studies''. He also helped establish the advisory board of the Institute of Island Studies. The son of Samuel Buchanan and Mae Gilmore, Buchanan married Deborah Ann Watts in 1978.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buchanan, Alan 1952 births University of Prince Edward Island alumni Prince Edward Island Liberal Party MLAs Green Party of Prince Edward Island politicians People from Queens County, Prince Edward Island Living people Members of the Executive Council of Prince Edward Island Queen's University at Kingston alumni