Donald Warder Orchard (born April 11, 1946) is 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 ...

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 1995, and was 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 Progressive Conservative governments 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 ...

and

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 ...

. The son of Warder Franklin John Orchard and Muriel Bernice King, he was born in

Miami, Manitoba Miami is an unincorporated community recognized as a local urban district in southern Manitoba, Canada, which was formed in 1885. It supports a K-12 school and has a curling rink and a skating rink. It lies 100 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg ...

, 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.Masonic Freemasonry or Masonry refers to Fraternity, fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of Stonemasonry, stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their inte ...

organization. In 1969, he married Edna Jane Simpson. He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the provincial election of 1977, in the safe Conservative seat of Pembina. He was re-elected in this riding in the elections of

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

and

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, each time by a comfortable margin. The Progressive Conservatives won the 1977 election under Sterling Lyon, and Orchard was appointed

Minister of Highways and Transport Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

on November 15, 1979. He was also appointed Chairman of the Provisional Land Use Committee on January 1, 1980, and was given ministerial responsibility for Manitoba Data Services on January 16, 1981. The

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

won the 1981 election, and Orchard resigned from cabinet on November 30, 1981. The Progressive Conservatives won a minority government in 1988 under

, and Orchard was appointed

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

on May 9 of that year (despite the fact that he attempted to remove Filmon as party leader in 1986). He held this portfolio until September 10, 1993, when he was appointed Minister of Energy and Mines with responsibility for the Manitoba Hydro Act. He did not seek re-election in 1995, and resigned from cabinet on March 20 of that year. As Health Minister, Orchard banned Medicare coverage from

Henry Morgentaler Henekh "Henry" Morgentaler, (March 19, 1923 – May 29, 2013), was a Polish-born Canadian physician and abortion rights advocate who fought numerous legal battles aimed at expanding abortion rights in Canada. As a Jewish youth during World War ...

's private

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

clinic. This decision provoked criticism from both sides of the abortion debate; some wanted the clinic closed entirely, while others wanted full funding. Orchard was a rural populist, on the right-wing of the Progressive Conservative Party. In 2003, he supported cooperation between the

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed u ...

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 ...

in the

Portage—Lisgar Portage—Lisgar is a federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. Demographics Portage—Lisgar is the riding with the highest percentage of native German speakers (2 ...

riding, before the two parties were formally merged.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orchard, Donald Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba MLAs 1946 births Living people Members of the Executive Council of Manitoba People from Pembina Valley Region, Manitoba