Catherine Chichak (October 7, 1934 – April 6, 2009) was a 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. She served as a member of 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 singl ...

and as an Alderman in the City of Edmonton.

Early life

Catherine Chichak was born in the small village of Krasne,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

and grew up in the nearby town of Wynard. After high school she moved to Edmonton, Alberta and attended McTavish Business College and the University of Alberta where she earned her real estate license. She married Stanley Chichak on May 14, 1960.

Political career

Chichak first ran for political office in the 1966 Edmonton municipal election. She finished in 20th place out of 44 in the plurality block vote, not high enough for a seat on city council. She ran again in the 1968 Edmonton municipal election; she did slightly better, finishing 17th out of a field of 32 candidates, but still short of election to council. Chichak ran for the Alberta Legislature as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the electoral district of

Edmonton-Norwood Edmonton-Norwood was a provinces and territories of Canada, provincial electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post met ...

in the 1971 general election. She won comfortably over two other candidates. Chichak ran for her second term in the

1975 Alberta general election The 1975 Alberta general election was held on March 26, 1975, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta to the 18th Alberta Legislature. The election was called on February 14, 1975 prorogued and dissolved of the 17th Alberta Legi ...

. She defeated former cabinet minister

Alfred Hooke Alfred John "Alf" Hooke (February 25, 1905 – February 17, 1992) was a teacher, politician and writer from Alberta, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1935 to 1971 as a member of the Social Credit Party. He held numer ...

and two other candidates. 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 go ...

, she defeated future NDP MLA Ray Martin and three other candidates. She retired from provincial politics at dissolution of the assembly in 1982. Chichak entered Edmonton municipal politics as a candidate for the Separate School board in the 1983 municipal election. She finished at the top of the polls. She was re-elected in the 1986 municipal election, again at the top of the polls. In 1989, Chichak ran for a seat to city council in the municipal election that year and won the second seat in Ward 2. She became mired in a scandal after it came to light that she owed $8,400 in business taxes. She was convicted and fined for signing a false statement regarding her tax debt. The court also found she was ineligible to have run for office, but let her keep her seat because she paid her taxes. She was defeated in the 1992 election, finishing sixth among ten candidates.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chichak, Catherine 1934 births 2009 deaths Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs Edmonton city councillors University of Alberta alumni Women MLAs in Alberta 20th-century Canadian women politicians