Albert Driedger (January 18, 1936 – July 18, 2011) was a
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
in
Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
, Canada. He was a member of the
Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (french: Assemblée législative du Manitoba) is the deliberative assembly of the Manitoba Legislature in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly at provincial gener ...
from 1977 to 1999, and a
cabinet minister
A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, ...
in the government of
Gary Filmon
Gary Albert Filmon (born August 24, 1942) is Canadian politician from Manitoba. He was the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba from 1983 to 2000, and served as the 19th premier of Manitoba from 1988 to 1999.
Political care ...
from 1988 to 1997.
Driedger was born in Steinbach, Manitoba, and was educated at the
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.reeve of the municipality of
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
. He was also a director of the Elim
Mennonite
Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...
Church. On July 15, 1970, his
frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...
Georges won the ''First International Frog Jumping Championship'' in
St. Pierre-Jolys, Manitoba
St-Pierre-Jolys (formerly ''Rivière-aux-Rats''/Rat River, ''St-Pierre''/St. Pierre) is a village in the Canadian province of Manitoba, located southeast of Winnipeg on Highway 59 near the Rat River. It is surrounded by the Rural Municipality o ...
, as part of a series of festivities surrounding a
royal visit
A state visit is a formal visit by a head of state to a foreign country, at the invitation of the head of state of that foreign country, with the latter also acting as the official host for the duration of the state visit. Speaking for the host ...
New Democrat
New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturall ...
Steve Derewianchuk by about 1000 votes in the rural southeastern riding of Emerson. In his first term, he served as a backbench MLA supporting the Progressive Conservative government of
Sterling Lyon
Sterling Rufus Lyon (January 30, 1927 – December 16, 2010) was a Canadian lawyer, cabinet minister, and the 17th premier of Manitoba from 1977 to 1981. His government introduced several fiscally-conservative measures, and was sometimes seen a ...
.
The NDP defeated Lyon's government in the 1981 provincial election, although Driedger was able to retain Emerson by 356 votes over his NDP challenger
Paul Dupuis
Paul Dupuis (August 11, 1913 – January 23, 1976) was a French Canadian film actor who was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and who performed in British films during the late 1940s. The roles he played were mainly as the romantic leading man. ...
. He was re-elected by a greater majority in the 1986 election, which the NDP won by a narrow margin.
In 1988, disgruntled NDP backbencher
Jim Walding
Derek James Walding (May 9, 1937 – April 23, 2007) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1971 to 1988 and served as speaker of the assembly from 1982 to 1986. Walding was a member of ...
brought down his government and forced a new election. Driedger was again re-elected without difficulty, and was appointed Minister of Government Services and Minister of Highways and Transportation on May 9, 1988.
Following the redistribution of provincial electoral districts for the 1990 election, Driedger ran in the riding of Steinbach; he once again won without any difficulty. He lost his position as government services minister on February 5, 1991, and on September 10, 1993, was transferred from highways and transportation to the
Ministry of Natural Resources
An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...
Jean Charest
John James "Jean" Charest (; born June 24, 1958) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 29th premier of Quebec from 2003 to 2012 and the fifth deputy prime minister of Canada in 1993. Charest was elected to the House of ...
's bid to lead the
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC; french: Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada) was a centre-right federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003.
From Canadian Confederation in 1867 until 1942, the ...
in 1993 (''Winnipeg Free Press'', 12 June 1993). Driedger was dropped from cabinet on January 6, 1997, and did not seek re-election in 1999.
After leaving politics, he was chairman of the board for the Menno Home for the Aged in Grunthal. Driedger died on July 18, 2011, at the age of 75, days after suffering a stroke.