Richard Lee Collver (February 13, 1936 – August 7, 2014) led the Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative (PC) Party from 1973 to 1978. Born in Toronto,"Dick Collver the instant messiah brings Kremlin into the unity debate" by Allan Fotheringham, ''Montreal Gazette'', March 13, 1980
/ref> Collver earned an arts degree in economics from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

, and articled as an accountant for

Price Waterhouse PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

in Calgary before moving to Saskatchewan in 1965. He was defeated in a run for the

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

mayoralty, but attracted the attention of the then-moribund Saskatchewan PC Party, and gained its leadership in 1973. The party under Collver began its road to revitalization, and won seven seats with over 28% of the vote in the 1975 election, including Collver's seat in

Nipawin Nipawin () is a town in Saskatchewan, Canada, on the Saskatchewan River portion of Tobin Lake. The town lies between Codette Lake, created by the Francois-Finlay Dam (built in 1986) and Tobin Lake, created by the E.B. Campbell Dam built in ...

. It became the official opposition after winning two

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

s and convincing two

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Members of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

(MLAs), including

Colin Thatcher Wilbert Colin Thatcher (born August 25, 1938) is a Canadian politician who was convicted for the murder of his ex-wife, JoAnn Wilson. Early life Colin Thatcher was born in Toronto, Ontario, on August 25, 1938. His father, Saskatchewan-born Ros ...

, to defect to the PCs. Though Collver's PCs won 38% of the vote and 17 MLAs in the 1978 election, Collver was disappointed with the result, feeling convinced he was going to win the election. He was facing lawsuits over his business endeavours, and became the target of attacks by the

Saskatchewan New Democratic Party The Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (NDP) is a social-democratic political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It currently forms the official opposition, but has been a dominant force in Saskatchewan politics since the 1940s. Th ...

during the election. Collver stepped down as PC leader in 1979. He was charged with illegal possession and improper use of a firearm after he discharged a .357 Magnum gun from the window of his Regina apartment on the night of his resignation. He was still involved in a $1 million lawsuit with the Saskatchewan government at the time. He formed the

Unionest Party The Unionest Party was a provincial political party in Saskatchewan, Canada, in the early 1980s, that advocated union between the four western provinces of Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) and the United States. The ...

in 1980, which advocated the joining of Saskatchewan and other western Canadian provinces to the United States. The party soon folded, and Collver retired to a ranch he purchased in

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. According to a column in the ''Montreal Gazette'' by Allan Fotheringham, Collver claimed that the 1980 federal election proved that the Canadian federation could not work. Fotheringham quoted Collver as saying that he had ruled out independence for western Canada, as advocated by the

Western Canada Concept The Western Canada Concept was a Western Canada, Western Canadian federal political party founded in 1980 to promote the separation of the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, and the Yukon and Northwest Territories ...

and other small parties at the time, because: :"Unfortunately, world events demand that those of us who believe in individual freedom and liberty must unite in the common cause against ever-increasing

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

domination of the world.

Balkanization Balkanization is the fragmentation of a larger region or state into smaller regions or states, which may be hostile or uncooperative with one another. It is usually caused by differences of ethnicity, culture, and religion and some other factor ...

will only invite weakness and subversive activity designed to thwart freedom-loving peoples." Collver briefly returned to Saskatchewan in 1984, to testify against Colin Thatcher in the trial that convicted him of the murder of his ex-wife Joanne Wilson. Collver alleged that Thatcher, in a visit to Collver's ranch in Arizona, approached him for help in the search for a hit-man to kill Wilson. Collver died on August 7, 2014, in Thailand, where he had been living for the previous 12 years.

External links

Dick Collver's biography in the Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan

* ttps://www.saskarchives.com/sites/default/files/pdf/2018_elections_results_by_electoral_division.pdf Saskatchewan Archives Board - Saskatchewan Election Results By Electoral Division

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collver, Dick 1936 births 2014 deaths Politicians from Toronto Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan MLAs Saskatchewan political party leaders