Ernest Douglas "Ernie" Isley (born June 29, 1937) is a former school principal and provincial and municipal level 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 singl ...

from 1979 to 1993. He is the former mayor for the town of

Bonnyville Bonnyville is a town situated in east-central Alberta, Canada between Cold Lake and St. Paul. The surrounding Municipal District (MD) of Bonnyville No. 87's municipal office is located in Bonnyville. The community derives its name from Fat ...

, Alberta, Isley served that post after being acclaimed in a by-election on March 7, 2006, until being defeated by Gene Sobolewski on October 21, 2013.

Early life

Isley served for seven years as Principal for Bonnyville Centralized High School before running for provincial office.

Provincial political career

Isley was elected to the Alberta Legislature 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 ...

. He won the electoral district of

defeating four other candidates to hold it for the Progressive Conservatives. He won his second term and a larger plurality facing two other candidates to win 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 ...

. His third time running for office in the

1986 Alberta general election 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 ...

, would see him win his third term with a reduced but comfortable plurality. He would again defeat two other candidates, his strongest challenger was New Democrat candidate Thomas Tucker. Isley would run for a fourth term in office in the

1989 Alberta general election The 1989 Alberta general election was held on March 20, 1989, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Many political observers were surprised by the early election call as less than three years had passed since the previous ele ...

. He ran for a fifth term in office in the

1993 Alberta general election The 1993 Alberta general election was held on June 15, 1993, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The Conservative government was re-elected, taking 51 seats out of 83 (61 percent of the seats) but only having support of 45 per ...

but was narrowly defeated in a by

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 ...

candidate Leo Vasseur. During his term in office, he served in several cabinet portfolios, including

Public Works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, sc ...

and

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

. He gained criticism in the early 1990s when under his direction, the amalgamation of the towns of Cold Lake and Grand Centre was initiated with CFB Cold Lake-4 Wing. In 2009, Wildrose Alliance Danielle Smith welcomed Isley into the Wildrose Alliance Party, although he was also a card-carrying member of the Conservative Party. and he has been a key organizer for the Leader and Party in the Bonnyville - Cold Lake constituency. In September 2010, Isley helped organize a tour for Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith to Bonnyville, Cold Lake, and Glendon. Isley said in an interview that his goal in life is to do everything possible in the next two years to elect a Wildrose government in the next election, which did not happen.

Municipal career

Isley was acclaimed as the Mayor of

in a by-election held on March 7, 2006. He was returned by acclamation in the 2007 Bonnyville municipal election. He would continue to serve as Bonnyville's mayor until 2013, when he ran for a fourth term even though he'd publicly stated he was retiring. He was soundly defeated by Gene Sobolewski.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isley, Ernie Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs Living people 1937 births Members of the Executive Council of Alberta