Eric Charles Musgreave (July 21, 1921 – June 16, 2000) 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. He 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 sin ...

from 1975 to 1989 sitting with the governing Progressive Conservative caucus and as an Alderman on

Calgary City Council The Calgary City Council is the legislative governing body that represents the citizens of Calgary. The council consists of 15 members: the chief elected official, titled the mayor, and 14 councillors. Jyoti Gondek was elected mayor in October 202 ...

from 1967 to 1974.

Early life

Musgreave was born on July 21, 1921, in

Condor, Alberta Condor is a hamlet in Alberta, Canada within Clearwater County. The hamlet is located in census division No. 9 and in the federal riding of Wetaskiwin. In 1938, they were still negotiating for a gravel road to their community. The hamlet wa ...

to Frank and Louisa Musgreave. He was educated at

Western Canada High School Western Canada High School (WCHS) is a public senior high school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It has classes for grades 10 through 12. Western is located in the 17th Avenue business district of the Lower Mount Royal community, and is the most cen ...

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. Musgreave enlisted with the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. Musgreave attended

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning Wo ...

following the War, earning a Bachelor in Commerce and began working at Imperial Oil in Calgary.

Political career

Musgreave was elected as Alderman on Calgary City Council for Ward 1 in the 1969 Calgary municipal election. He served three more terms before entering provincial politics. Musgreave ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature for the first time in the

1967 Alberta general election The 1967 Alberta general election was held on May 23, 1967, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta to the 16th Alberta Legislature. The election was called after the 15th Alberta Legislature was prorogued on April 11, 1967, and ...

. He was defeated by Social Credit incumbent

Lee Leavitt Lorne Lee Leavitt (December 6, 1906 – January 13, 1984) was a teacher and a provincial level politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1952 to 1955 and a second stint from 1963 to 1971 s ...

. He made another attempt to win a seat 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 Legis ...

, this time in the electoral district of Calgary-McKnight. This time, Musgreave was successful as he defeated future MLA Ray Martin and two other candidates with a landslide victory. Musgreave was returned for a second term 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 g ...

. His popular support dropped slightly but he still won the electoral district convincingly. His largest victory came in the

1982 Alberta general election The 1982 Alberta general election was held on November 2, 1982, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Less than four years had passed since the Progressive Conservatives won their landslide victory in 1979. Premier Peter Lou ...

when he was returned for a third term. He defeated four other candidates and won the district with 10,000 votes over his second place competitor Eileen Nesbitt of the New Democrats. The 1986 general election saw Musgreave's popularity plummet and his popular vote drop by almost two thirds. He still won the three-way race by doubling second place Sandra Botting from the New Democrats vote. Musgreave retired from provincial politics at the dissolution of the assembly in 1989. He died of a stroke in 2000.`He always tried to do right': Former MLA Eric Musgreave dies after stroke: inal EditionThompson, Wendy-Anne. Calgary Herald algary, Alta17 June 2000: B5.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Musgreave, Eric 1921 births 2000 deaths Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs Calgary city councillors Carleton University alumni Western Canada High School alumni