George Ho Lem Sr. (何榮禧) (June 15, 1918 – July 9, 2005) was a Canadian politician, businessman, and community leader 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 ...

Early life , business career and community service

George Ho Lem was born in Calgary,

in 1918. His mother Mary Ho Lem was the first recorded female Chinese resident of Calgary. He started a successful dry cleaning business and was also a successful restaurateur. He was also a horse breeder; he won two Alberta Derbies and was once declared

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...

breeder of the year. He served as a director of

Stampede Park The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, exhibition, and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The ten-day event, which bills itself as "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth", attracts over one million visitors per year and featu ...

for 18 years, and was granted a lifetime membership as an honorary director. He also served as president of the Calgary Junior Chamber of Commerce, and as chairman of the board of the Calgary Auxiliary Hospital for sixteen years. He was a founding director of the Metropolitan Calgary Foundation and a long-standing member of the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-o ...

Football Booster Club. His interest in sports led him to Co-chair the 1978 Commonwealth Games held in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

. He was also very active in the Calgary Chinese community. A few of the organizations he was involved with were the Sien Lok Society, the Oi Kwan Society, the Calgary Chinatown Development Foundation and the Calgary Multicultural Society. He served as founder, president or chairman of most of these groups.

Politics

Ho Lem began his political career in 1959 as an alderman of the City of Calgary. He polled the most votes of the sixteen candidates in that year's election. He was the second person of Chinese descent to win a municipal election in Canada. He was re-elected in 1962, and served a total of six years on City Council. In 1969, he was the manager of Rod Sykes's mayoral campaign. Ho Lem was elected to 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 ...

in the 1971 general election in the electoral district of

Calgary McCall Calgary-Bhullar-McCall is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada. It was created in 1971, and was named after Frederick McCall and the McCall Industrial Park. As of the 2010 redistricting, the industrial ...

under the banner of the Social Credit Party. He was the first person of Chinese descent elected to the Alberta Legislature. During his term in the Assembly, he served on the Law and Regulations, Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing, and Public Affairs committees. He also served on the Select Special Committee on Foreign Investment. He was defeated in the 1975 election by Progressive Conservative candidate Andrew Little. He ran for Parliament in the

1980 Canadian Federal Election The 1980 Canadian federal election was held on February 18, 1980, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 32nd Parliament of Canada. It was called when the minority Progressive Conservative government led by Prime Minister Joe ...

Calgary Centre Calgary Centre (french: Calgary-Centre; formerly known as Calgary South Centre) is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1968. The riding consists of many young ad ...

as a member of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

. He was defeated by incumbent

Harvie Andre Harvie Andre, (July 27, 1940 – October 21, 2012) was a Canadians, Canadian engineer, businessman, politician and Cabinet of Canada, federal Cabinet minister. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, on July 27, 1940, Andre was educated at the University of ...

of the Progressive Conservative Party. The Legislative Assembly of Alberta paid special tribute to Ho Lem's accomplishments on November 20, 2001

External links

George Ho Lem guest introduction and tribute, Alberta Legislative Assembly Hansard November 20, 2001

Death Notice George Ho Lem, Alberta Legislative Assembly Hansard

City of Calgary Aldermanic gallery, George Ho Lem page 146
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ho Lem, George 1918 births 2005 deaths Calgary city councillors Candidates in the 1980 Canadian federal election Alberta Social Credit Party MLAs Liberal Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons Canadian politicians of Chinese descent