Bert Brown (March 22, 1938 – February 3, 2018) was 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 ...
senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
and retired farmer and development consultant who resided in
Balzac, Alberta
Balzac is a hamlet in Rocky View County, which is in the Calgary Metropolitan Region of the Canadian province of Alberta. It is located immediately west of Queen Elizabeth II Highway, at the intersection with Highway 566, north of Calgary ci ...
.
Early life
Brown farmed in
Kathyrn, Alberta, from 1969 to 1999, after which they sold their family farm. After retiring from the Senate of Canada in March 2013, he returned to land development consulting. He attended Mount Royal College and graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in Civil Engineering. He was married to Alice Taylor (1965) and has one child.
Campaign for a Triple E Senate
Brown was the only person to run in all three of Canada's elected senatorial elections. In 1989 and 2004 he ran under the
Alberta Progressive Conservative Party
The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta (often referred to colloquially as Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta) was a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta that existed from 1905 to 2020. The party ...
. In 1998, he ran under the
Reform Party of Alberta, losing to Stan Waters. He was elected as a
senator-in-waiting in 1998 and re-elected in 2004. Brown was the only person ever to be elected to a second term as senator-in-waiting.
He had been campaigning for an elected
Senate of Canada
The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada.
The Senate is modelled after the B ...
for over 23 years. He was the founder and chair of the Canadian Committee for a
Triple-E Senate
The Triple-E Senate (a mnemonic Acronym and initialism#Contrived acronyms, contrived acronym for ''mathematical equality, equal'', ''elected'', and ''effective'') is a proposed reform of the Senate of Canada, Canadian Senate, calling for senators ...
. The definitive symbol for the cause, he had been documented in countless
Hansard
''Hansard'' is the traditional name of the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official print ...
transcripts in provincial legislatures across the country, as well as the federal Parliament and Senate.
He first gained fame for his cause when he used his tractor to plow "Triple E Senate or Else" into his neighbour's two-mile long field.
Senatorial career
Prime Minister
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...
promised to advise the
Governor General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
to appoint Brown to the next available Senate seat from Alberta, according to comments made in the House of Commons April 18, 2007. The announcement came after long-serving senator
Dan Hays
Daniel Phillip Hays (April 24, 1939) is a Canadian politician born in Calgary, Alberta. He was Speaker of the Senate of Canada from 2001 to 2006, when he became Leader of the Government (Liberal) in the Senate. Hays was the Leader of the ...
announced his intent to vacate his seat in the Senate at the end of June 2007.
Brown was appointed to the Canadian Senate on July 10, 2007. Brown served five and a half years until mandatory retirement.
Brown became the second person in Canadian history, after
Stan Waters, to be appointed to his Senate seat following a provincial senator-in-waiting
election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
. Brown chose to run with the Conservative Party of Canada caucus (federal party), even though he ran under the Progressive Conservative banner (provincial party counterpart), in the Alberta Senate election.
On his 75th birthday, March 22, 2013, Brown retired from the Senate as per Senate rules.
Awards
In 2005, Brown was a recipient of the
Alberta Centennial Medal
The Alberta Centennial Medal is a commemorative medal celebrating Alberta's first 100 years of participating in Canadian Confederation.
History
In 2005, the ''Alberta Centennial Medal Act'' established the Alberta Centennial Medal.
Purpose
The ...
. The award was given to notable Albertans who made a lasting contribution in the province over the preceding 100 years.
Views
Bert Brown did not acknowledge the
scientific consensus
Scientific consensus is the generally held judgment, position, and opinion of the majority or the supermajority of scientists in a particular field of study at any particular time.
Consensus is achieved through scholarly communication at confe ...
on
anthropogenic climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
he identified himself as a denier.
Death
Brown died on February 3, 2018.
Senator Bert (Retired) Brown Obituary
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References
External links
*
Senators detailed information Parliament of Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Bert
1938 births
2018 deaths
Canadian senators from Alberta
Conservative Party of Canada senators
Canadian senators-in-waiting from Alberta
Members of the United Church of Canada
21st-century Canadian politicians