Donald Ross Getty (August 30, 1933 – February 26, 2016) was a Canadian politician who served as the 11th
premier of Alberta
The premier of Alberta is the first minister for the Canadian province of Alberta, and the province's head of government. The current premier is Danielle Smith, leader of the United Conservative Party, who was sworn in on October 11, 2022.
The ...
between 1985 and 1992. A member of the
Progressive Conservatives, he served as Energy Minister and Federal and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister in the government of
Peter Lougheed
Edgar Peter Lougheed ( ; July 26, 1928 – September 13, 2012) was a Canadian lawyer and Progressive Conservative politician who served as the tenth premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985, presiding over a period of reform and economic growth.
Bo ...
before leaving politics for the private sector in 1979. He returned to politics six years later to contest the leadership contest resulting from Lougheed's retirement. He defeated two other candidates, and became Premier November 1, 1985.
As Premier, Getty was faced with an economic slowdown and falling energy prices, which hit
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 ...
's
petroleum
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...
-dominated economy hard. Faced with mounting government deficits and increasing unemployment, he cut social spending and intervened with government money to prevent businesses from failing. Several of these interventions backfired in high-profile fashion, failing at their intended objective and costing scarce public funds as well. While some analysts argue that Getty's fiscal program laid the groundwork for
Ralph Klein
Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 20 ...
's later balancing of the provincial budget, on Getty's departure from office the government's debt had reached $11 billion, setting the stage for his successor to characterize the Getty years as an era of wasteful and excessive spending.
His efforts at strengthening Alberta's presence in Canada initially appeared more successful, as he won the agreement of Canada's other first ministers in including elements of
Senate reform in the
Meech Lake and
Charlottetown Accord
The Charlottetown Accord (french: Accord de Charlottetown) was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada, proposed by the Canadian federal and provincial governments in 1992. It was submitted to a public referendum on October ...
s, but these efforts came to naught when both accords were rejected—the second by the Canadian public, including a majority of Albertans. Getty was also facing political problems within Alberta, including a defeat in his home
riding of
Edmonton-Whitemud
Edmonton-Whitemud is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada. In 1989, its constituents unseated the Premier of the day, Donald Getty, by voting for Liberal candidate Percy Wickman.
The district was ...
in the
1989 election
The following elections occurred in the year 1989.
Africa
* 1989 Beninese parliamentary election
* 1989 Botswana general election
* 1989 Equatorial Guinean presidential election
* 1989 People's Republic of the Congo parliamentary election
* 19 ...
(leading to a successful by-election in
Stettler, vacated by a P.C. MLA) and leadership machinations from some of his own ministers. In light of this, he resigned the Premiership in 1992.
Before entering politics, Getty had been a
quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
for the
Edmonton Eskimos of the
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
. He passed for more than eight thousand yards over his ten-year career, and was put on the team's Wall of Fame in 1992.
Early life
Don Getty was born on August 30, 1933, in
Westmount, Quebec, the son of Beatrice Lillian (Hampton) Getty (1910–1973) and Charles Ross Getty (1909–1974).
[Perry, Craig 2006, pg. 563] His father had dropped out of
McGill University
McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...
's medical school due to the
Great Depression and worked a variety of jobs—sometimes more than one at a time—to support his wife, three sons, and two daughters. Getty's childhood was spent in
Verdun
Verdun (, , , ; official name before 1970 ''Verdun-sur-Meuse'') is a large city in the Meuse department in Grand Est, northeastern France. It is an arrondissement of the department.
Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital ...
,
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
,
Ottawa,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, and
Agincourt, sharing a three-room apartment with his seven-member family in the last. Returning for London in time for high school, he became an accomplished athlete (drinking
eggnog
Eggnog (), historically also known as a milk punch or an egg milk punch when alcoholic beverages are added, is a rich, chilled, sweetened, dairy-based beverage. It is traditionally made with milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, and whipped egg white ...
to gain enough weight to play football) and was elected students' council president. Sports were his passion, and he was an especially great fan of the
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...
and of
Toronto Argonauts
The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...
running back
Royal Copeland.
Football
After graduating, Getty enrolled to study business administration at the
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...
, where he became a
football star and a member of The
Kappa Alpha Society
The Kappa Alpha Society (), founded in 1825, was the progenitor of the modern fraternity system in North America. It is considered to be the oldest national, secret, Greek-letter social fraternity and was the first of the fraternities which would ...
.
He quarterbacked the
Western Ontario Mustangs
The Western Mustangs are the athletic teams that represent Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. The school's athletic program supports 46 varsity teams. Their mascot is a Mustang named J.W. and the school colours are purple and whi ...
to Eastern Collegiate Union Championships in 1954 and 1955,
and was awarded the Claude Brown Memorial Trophy as the outstanding athlete at UWO in 1955. He also played
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
, and was part of championship teams in that sport in 1952, 1953, and 1954.
A week after his 1955 graduation, he married Margaret Mitchell, his high school sweetheart. The
Edmonton Eskimos had offered Getty a professional contract, so the newlyweds drove out west in an old blue
Buick.
While still playing football, Getty was hired by
Imperial Oil in 1955. He worked for Midwestern Industrial Gas Limited, beginning in 1961 as Lands and Contracts Manager with a promotion to Assistant General Manager following in 1963. In 1964 he founded his own company, Baldonnel Oil and Gas Company, before entering the world of finance as a partner with Doherty, Roadhouse, and McCuaig investments in 1967.
MLA and cabinet minister
In 1965, Getty was approached by fellow Eskimos veteran and
Progressive Conservative leader
Peter Lougheed
Edgar Peter Lougheed ( ; July 26, 1928 – September 13, 2012) was a Canadian lawyer and Progressive Conservative politician who served as the tenth premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985, presiding over a period of reform and economic growth.
Bo ...
to run in the
1967 provincial election.
Getty agreed to run in
Strathcona West, and defeated incumbent
Social Crediter Randolph McKinnon by more than one thousand votes. He entered 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 sin ...
as one of six newly elected P.C.s. Four years later, in the
1971 election, Getty was re-elected by more than 3,500 votes in the new riding of
Edmonton-Whitemud
Edmonton-Whitemud is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada. In 1989, its constituents unseated the Premier of the day, Donald Getty, by voting for Liberal candidate Percy Wickman.
The district was ...
and was appointed Minister of Federal and Intergovernmental Affairs in the new Lougheed majority government.
With Getty and the government both re-elected by increasing margins in the
1975 election, Lougheed appointed him Minister of Energy. In this capacity Getty partially continued his responsibility for relations with the
federal government, as energy policy was a major sticking point between the two governments (at one point, federal Energy Minister
Donald Macdonald called Getty "dripping with venom").
Getty did not seek re-election in the
1979 election.
Hiatus from politics and leadership fight
While out of politics, Getty became the head of an investment firm and sat on the boards of a number of corporations, including the
Royal Bank of Canada, Sparrow Energy, Nortek Energy and
Celanese
Celanese Corporation, formerly known as Hoechst Celanese, is an American technology and specialty materials company headquartered in Irving, Texas. A Fortune 500 corporation, the company is the world’s leading producer of acetic acid, prod ...
Canada.
However, when Lougheed stepped down from the Progressive Conservative leadership in 1985, Getty entered the contest to replace him and immediately became the favourite.
At an October convention, Getty won a second ballot victory against Minister of Municipal Affairs
Julian Koziak and former legislator
Ron Ghitter
Ronald D. Ghitter (born August 22, 1935) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from August 30, 1971 to March 13, 1979 sitting with the governing Progressive Conservative caucus. Ghitte ...
.
Premier
Getty was appointed Premier November 1, 1985. He returned to the
legislature
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...
just over a month later, winning a by-election in his old riding of Edmonton-Whitemud. As Premier for nearly seven years, Getty presided over some of Alberta's toughest economic times. His time in office was characterized by attempts to reduce the government's
budget deficit
Within the budgetary process, deficit spending is the amount by which spending exceeds revenue over a particular period of time, also called simply deficit, or budget deficit; the opposite of budget surplus. The term may be applied to the budget ...
and interventions calculated to stabilize the economy during the
recession
In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be triggered by various ...
of the 1980s. When Getty became Premier he left his
predecessor's cabinet completely intact.
Budget deficit
After Getty won the party leadership, Lougheed told him to expect a budget deficit of $2.5 billion in his first year in office,
though the figure turned out to be $2.1 billion.
Things got worse the next year as a drop in energy prices led to the oil-rich province running a deficit of $3.4 billion, as energy revenues fell by $3 billion.
Getty's Treasurer,
Dick Johnston, reacted by raising taxes by $1 billion and cutting program spending by 6.3%, including decreases of 3% in grants to schools, universities, municipalities, and hospitals.
In 1990, due to these measures, Johnston predicted that the government would be in surplus by the 1995 fiscal year.
By 1992, program spending was growing at a rate of 2.3% annually, among the lowest rates in Canada.
In fact, when adjusted for population growth and
inflation
In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduct ...
, government spending fell over Getty's term in office, with non-health care program spending 40% lower in 1993 than it had been in 1986 (health spending had remained approximately constant over the same period). Even so, Getty entered the premiership with no public debt and left with the public debt at $11 billion.
Economic intervention
Getty's government was faced with a combination of a general economic malaise and falling oil prices.
The slowdown in the energy sector contributed to a decrease in capital spending, which reduced demand for labour in the construction industry by 50% between 1980 and 1985.
Many workers left the province, which suppressed
real estate
Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
prices and hurt financial institutions; two Albertan banks, the Canadian Commercial Bank and the Northlands Bank, failed in September 1985.
Credit unions
A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including deposit accounts, provision ...
were facing similar troubles, and the Lougheed government had, in its last days, injected $100 million into the industry.
Getty's response to these issues was interventionist. During his first budget, he targeted spending at the province's struggling agricultural sector, including a $2 billion loan program meant to address high interest rates.
His government tried to stimulate the energy sector by making
loan guarantee
A loan guarantee, in finance, is a promise by one party (the guarantor) to assume the debt obligation of a borrower if that borrower defaults. A guarantee can be limited or unlimited, making the guarantor liable for only a portion or all of the d ...
s to
Husky Oil ($380 million) and
Syncrude ($200 million) for new and expanded capital projects.
The government also provided a $55 million guarantee—in addition to a $20 million loan—to
Peter Pocklington
Peter Hugh Pocklington (born November 18, 1941) is a Canadian entrepreneur and vocal advocate of free-market capitalism.
Peter Pocklington was known among North American hockey fans as "Peter Puck", the maverick entrepreneur from oil-rich Albert ...
's
Gainers meat-packing plant; when Pocklington defaulted on the loan, the government seized, and eventually closed, the plant.
This incident and others contributed to a perception that Getty's administration was willing to spend public money to support large businesses, but that it was indifferent to the struggles of labour (the Gainers loan had initially been made after the government brokered a labour settlement favourable to the plant's management).
In 1986 the price of oil bottomed at $US10 a barrel. Getty responded by providing the oil industry with $250 million in incentives and royalty cuts. By the end of 1986 Alberta had granted another nine-month cut from 12% to 1% in royalties at the Suncor oilsands.
Most damaging to the government's reputation was the failure of the
Principal Group
The Principal Group was a group of interrelated Canadian financial companies that collapsed in 1987, resulting in losses to an estimated 67,000 people. Losses were in recovered in part through provincial governments paying compensation, based on ...
, an Edmonton-based trust company. Its investment subsidiaries were ordered shut down June 30, 1987, by court orders obtained at the instigation of Provincial Treasurer Dick Johnston.
The parent company went bankrupt August 10 amid accusations of fraud.
A court-ordered investigation led by Bill Code found that the company was in trouble as early as 1980 and, though subsequent economic downturns hurt it, "it would not have been profitable in any event".
It also found that Consumer and Corporate Affairs Minister
Connie Osterman had disregarded 1984 warnings from a regulator in her department that the company was likely
insolvent
In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...
.
Though Osterman was fired shortly after the report's release, Getty's immediate offer of an $85 million settlement to investors further hurt the government's reputation in areas of business.
A similar incident stemmed from the 1992 privatization of
Alberta Government Telephones (AGT). NovaTel, a cellular subsidiary of AGT, had made a number of financing deals with local companies in the late 1980s, and many of these deals were collapsing just as the government was prepared to sell AGT.
At the last moment, the government removed NovaTel from the AGT
share offering.
NovaTel's liabilities eventually cost the government more than $600 million.
Intergovernmental and constitutional affairs
As a former Minister of Federal and Intergovernmental Affairs, Getty had strong views about constitutional matters, and about
Senate reform in particular. He made the cause the centrepiece of Alberta's constitutional policy going into the
Meech Lake Accord
The Meech Lake Accord (french: Accord du lac Meech) was a series of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and all 10 Canadian provincial premiers. It was intended to persuade the gov ...
discussions.
The Accord's final version included a provision whereby the
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
would continue to recommend senatorial appointments to the
Governor-General, but would have to make their recommendations from lists provided by the provincial governments.
Once it became apparent that the Meech Lake Accord would fail, Getty's government introduced the ''Senatorial Selection Act'', which provided for an election process whenever there was a vacant Senate seat for Alberta.
However, Getty's favoured candidate, Progressive Conservative
Bert Brown
Bert Brown (March 22, 1938 – February 3, 2018) was a Canadian senator and retired farmer and development consultant who resided in Balzac, Alberta.
Early life
Brown farmed in Kathyrn, Alberta, from 1969 to 1999, after which they sold their fa ...
, was soundly defeated by
Stan Waters of the upstart
Reform Party of Canada
The Reform Party of Canada (french: Parti réformiste du Canada) was a right-wing populist and conservative federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada-based protest ...
, which opposed Meech Lake and favoured aggressive senate reform.
Though Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney opposed the legislation, he eventually recommended Waters for appointment to the Senate.
Getty was still more successful at pursuing senate reform during the negotiations for the
Charlottetown Accord
The Charlottetown Accord (french: Accord de Charlottetown) was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada, proposed by the Canadian federal and provincial governments in 1992. It was submitted to a public referendum on October ...
, when he won the addition of a
Triple-E Senate
The Triple-E Senate (a mnemonic contrived acronym for '' equal'', ''elected'', and ''effective'') is a proposed reform of the Canadian Senate, calling for senators to be elected to exercise effective powers in numbers equally representative of ea ...
to the package, against Mulroney's opposition.
However, the Charlottetown Accord failed after a national referendum in which a majority of Canadians, including 60.2% of Albertans, rejected it.
In 1991, Getty's Progressive Conservatives formally severed ties with 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 ...
, which was becoming increasingly unpopular under Mulroney.
Getty also broke with Mulroney on a number of issues other than Senate reform, including the new federal
Goods and Services Tax, which he fought unsuccessfully against implementing.
His government also implemented legislation, against Mulroney's express wishes, that made English the only official language of Alberta.
Despite these steps, Getty remained a supporter of the federal Conservatives (and not the Reform Party, to which many provincial P.C.s were defecting), whose unpopularity rubbed off on him.
Getty's government also made progress on
aboriginal land claims in the northern part of the province. In addition to creating Canada's first
Métis land base in 1989, Getty took the lead in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to negotiate a settlement between the federal government and the
Lubicon Cree
The Muskotew Sakahikan Enowuk or Lubicon Lake Nation ( cr, ᒪᐢᑯᑏᐤ ᓵᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ) is a Cree First Nation in northern Alberta, Canada. They are commonly referred to as the Lubicon Lake Nation, Lubicon Cree, or the Lubicon Lake C ...
.
Political style
In contrast to his predecessor, who was actively involved in most elements of his government, Getty preferred to set the government's broad direction and leave lower-level details to his ministers.
Ralph Klein
Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 20 ...
, while serving as Environment Minister under Getty, commented that "If you are a minister, you run that portfolio yourself" and expressed an appreciation for the freedom that the Premier gave
his cabinet.
Al Adair, who served in two different portfolios under Getty, described this approach in his memoirs as "you make the decisions, you run your department, but make mistakes and you're gone".
Lisac credits him for knowing when to intervene and when not to,
but Adair felt that his approach led to ministers working too much in isolation.
Getty was a private, reserved person, which, combined with his tendency to delegate to ministers, sometimes gave the impression of an uncaring aloofness.
During the Principal Group affair, which he left primarily in the hands of Treasurer
Dick Johnston and Consumer and Corporate Affairs Minister
Elaine McCoy
Elaine Jean McCoy (March 7, 1946December 29, 2020) was a Canadian politician from Alberta. She was a member of the Senate of Canada.
In 2005, McCoy was appointed to the Senate. She designated herself a member of the Progressive Conservative ...
, a photographer captured a shot of Getty playing golf while his press secretary had said that he was "working out of the office".
This was typical of his strained relationship with the media, which Adair attributed to the Premier's awkwardness and the media's unfairness.
[Adair 163]
Although Getty governed with fairly large majorities during his tenure, they were nowhere near as large as the ones Lougheed enjoyed. His first election as premier saw the return of the
provincial Liberals to the legislature after being shut out for 15 years. That same election saw the
Alberta NDP pick up 16 seats in the legislature. In contrast, during his last two terms, Lougheed never faced more than six opposition MLAs in total.
Decline and retirement
Getty called the
1989 election
The following elections occurred in the year 1989.
Africa
* 1989 Beninese parliamentary election
* 1989 Botswana general election
* 1989 Equatorial Guinean presidential election
* 1989 People's Republic of the Congo parliamentary election
* 19 ...
less than three years into his 1986 mandate to take advantage of the economic optimism prevalent in the province, partly as a result of the
Canada-U.S. free trade agreement.
While the P.C.s made spending promises including paving all of the province's secondary highways, the Liberals under new leader
Laurence Decore
Laurence George Decore (born Lavrentiy Dikur; June 28, 1940 – November 6, 1999) was Canadian lawyer and politician from Alberta. He was of Ukrainian descent. He was mayor of Edmonton, a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, and ...
stressed dealing with the deficit.
The overall result was respectable for the government, as it won a sixth term in government with a net loss of only two seats. However, Getty was defeated in his own riding by Liberal
Percy Wickman.
Brian C. Downey resigned his seat in the rural central Alberta riding of
Stettler to allow Getty to run in a by-election, which he won handily.
He built a home in the riding on
Buffalo Lake, and was later accused of arranging for the lake to be risen so it would be better-suited for fishing (though Adair claimed that the arrangements had been in place since 1979, when he had been Minister of Recreation, Parks and Wildlife).
Getty's relationship with his own party was often stormy. Shortly after he lost his riding in 1989, a group of Calgary Conservatives, including party budget director
Jack Major and Getty's old leadership rival
Ron Ghitter
Ronald D. Ghitter (born August 22, 1935) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from August 30, 1971 to March 13, 1979 sitting with the governing Progressive Conservative caucus. Ghitte ...
, began making plans to force party renewal, with or without Getty.
They felt that the party was perceived as being tired, directionless, arrogant, and deaf to urban concerns, and that it was in political trouble in the crucial battleground of Calgary.
At the 1989 party convention, recently retired cabinet minister
Marvin Moore
Marvin Everard Moore (born August 31, 1938) is a former Canadian provincial level politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1971 to 1989. During his time in public office, he served numbe ...
, who had organized Ghitter's 1985 leadership campaign, advocated for a
leadership review
In Canadian politics, a leadership review is a vote held at a political party convention in which delegates decide whether to endorse the incumbent party leader or schedule a leadership convention to elect a new leader. In most parties at present, ...
; after a speech by Getty, the convention voted to refer the recommendation to a committee for months of study.
Cabinet ministers, including Treasurer
Dick Johnston and Education Minister
Jim Dinning
James Francis Dinning (born December 4, 1952) is a Canadian Progressive Conservative politician and businessman. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta (1986–1997), and now serves on the board of directors of a variety of Canad ...
, began to consider leadership bids in the event that Getty retired or was pushed out.
In 1992, as the national referendum on the
Charlottetown Accord
The Charlottetown Accord (french: Accord de Charlottetown) was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada, proposed by the Canadian federal and provincial governments in 1992. It was submitted to a public referendum on October ...
and the release of a report on the NovaTel incident loomed, Getty decided to leave politics.
In his last months, he deliberately refrained from taking measures that he knew would be popular, such as shrinking cabinet, in order to leave them for his successor.
After a party leadership election chose
Ralph Klein
Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 20 ...
to succeed him, Getty resigned as party leader December 5 and as Premier several days later.
Political legacy
As Premier, Klein positioned himself in contrast to Getty, asserting that the government had "a spending problem", and stating that he had become Premier at a time of "uncontrolled spending". Given Klein's aggressive spending cuts, which shaped the political climate of Alberta for much of the 1990s, Getty's legacy with respect to public finances has been criticized. However,
Kevin Taft
Kevin Taft (born September 9, 1955) is an author, consultant, speaker, and former provincial politician in Alberta, Canada. Prior to his election, he worked in various public policy roles (1973-2000) in the Government of Alberta, private and no ...
, writing four years before entering politics, challenged this view, asserting that Getty was running "the tightest government in Canada". Besides its management of the deficit, Getty's government is remembered for the creation of
Family Day
Family Day is a public holiday in the countries of Angola, Israel, South Africa, Uruguay, Vanuatu, and Vietnam; in the Australian Capital Territory; in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Saskatchewan and soon New Brunswic ...
. For the most part, however, Getty dropped quickly from the public view and public memory.
Lisac suggests that this is because, unlike his predecessor and successor, he lacked a central message:
Professional football career
Getty played 10 seasons with the
Edmonton Eskimos as a
quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
. For the first part of his career, he backed up
Jackie Parker
John Dickerson "Jackie" Parker (January 1, 1932 – November 7, 2006) was an American gridiron football player and coach. He was an All-American in college football and an outstanding professional football player in the Canadian Football League ...
and filled in for him when he was moved to
running back
A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball,
and block. Ther ...
.
Eskimos coach
Pop Ivy
Lee Frank "Pop" Ivy (January 25, 1916 – May 17, 2003) was a football player and coach who was the only person to serve as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL), the American Football League (AFL) and the Western Interprovincial ...
surprised many observers when he started Getty at quarterback in the third game of the 1956 western final (which was a three-game series at the time) during the
44th Grey Cup
The 44th Grey Cup game was played on November 24, 1956, before 27,425 fans at Varsity Stadium in Toronto.
The favoured Edmonton Eskimos won their third straight Grey Cup over the Montreal Alouettes by the score of 50–27.
Edmonton coach Pop I ...
, with Parker at running back. However, it bore results as Parker tied the record for most touchdowns scored in a Grey Cup game, at three.
Getty also handed the ball to
Johnny Bright
John Dee Bright (June 11, 1930 – December 14, 1983) was an American professional football player in the Canadian Football League. He played college football at Drake University. He is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, the Nation ...
for two touchdowns and scored two himself on quarterback keeps from the one-yard line, as the Eskimos won their third consecutive championship over the
Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes (French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Canad ...
by a score of 50–27.
He continued with Eskimos until 1963, and also made three appearances in the 1965 season.
Getty was one of the most successful Canadian-born quarterbacks in the history of the
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
and sits at third on the all-time passing yardage list of Canadian quarterbacks, behind
Russ Jackson
Russell Stanley Jackson (born July 28, 1936) is a former professional Canadian football player. Jackson spent his entire 12-year professional football career with the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He is a member of t ...
and
Gerry Dattilio
Gerry Dattilio (born June 11, 1953) is a former professional Canadian football quarterback in the Canadian Football League.
Early years
Dattilio played his high school football with the Chomedey Chiefs in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when h ...
, with nearly nine thousand yards. He was declared the outstanding Canadian player in the
Western Interprovincial Football Union
The West Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League (CFL), its counterpart being the East Division. Although the CFL was not founded until 1958, the West Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagu ...
in 1959, and was the runner up (to Jackson) for the
Schenley Award as the league's most outstanding Canadian player the same year.
He was placed on the Eskimos' Wall of Honor in 1992.
Career statistics
1Until and including the 1958 season, a tackle for a loss on a passing play was registered as a rushing attempt.
Retirement and death
Getty kept a low profile after leaving politics. He assumed several corporate directorships and spent time with his grandchildren.
Unlike Lougheed, he rarely commented on political matters. He was appointed as an Officer to the
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the cen ...
in 1998.
In July 2008, after
Ed Stelmach
Edward Michael Stelmach (; born May 11, 1951) is a Canadian politician and served as the 13th premier of Alberta, from 2006 to 2011. The grandson of Ukrainian immigrants, Stelmach was born and raised on a farm near Lamont and fluently speaks ...
announced $2 billion in funding to industry to develop
carbon capture Carbon capture may refer to:
* Carbon capture and utilization, where the captured carbon dioxide is used
* Carbon sequestration, where the captured carbon dioxide is stored
** Carbon capture and storage, referring to carbon sequestration from point ...
technology, Getty's company sought some of the funding to bury
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is trans ...
in salt caverns near
Two Hills.
On February 26, 2016, Getty died of heart failure at the age of 82 in Edmonton, following years of declining health.
Honours
He was appointed as an Officer of the
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the cen ...
on 21 October 1998. He was appointed as a Member of the
Alberta Order of Excellence
The Alberta Order of Excellence (french: Ordre d'excellence de l'Alberta) is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Alberta. Instituted in 1979 when Lieutenant Governor Frank C. Lynch-Staunton granted royal assent to the Alberta O ...
in 1999. He received the Canadian version of the
Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977, the
125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal
The 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal (french: Médaille commémorative du 125e anniversaire de la Confédération du Canada) is a commemorative medal struck by the Royal Canadian Mint to commemorate the 125th anniversary of ...
in 1992, the Canadian version of the
Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002 and the
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (french: Médaille du jubilé de diamant de la reine Elizabeth II) or The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ...
in 2012.
In 2012 he was inducted into the London Sports Hall of Fame in
London, Ontario
London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...
, in recognition of his achievements in Canadian football.
On 19 November 2013 he received the
honorary degree
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
of
Doctor of Laws
A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor ...
from the
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...
.
Electoral record
As party leader
* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.
As MLA
Party leadership contest
References
Bibliography
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Getty, Don
1933 births
2016 deaths
People from Westmount, Quebec
Anglophone Quebec people
Canadian men's basketball players
Western Mustangs basketball players
Players of Canadian football from Quebec
Canadian football quarterbacks
Western Mustangs football players
Edmonton Elks players
Canadian sportsperson-politicians
Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs
Members of the Alberta Order of Excellence
Members of the Executive Council of Alberta
Members of the United Church of Canada
Officers of the Order of Canada
Premiers of Alberta
Leaders of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta
20th-century Canadian politicians