Gordon Kesler (born 1945) is a former 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.

Political career

Gordon Kesler's stunning victory in the February 1982 by-election for the Western Canada Concept received national media attention. Kesler was the first separatist politician elected in Canada outside of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

since the 1870s, although his activities were primarily related to opposing official bilingualism and the introduction of the metric system. After the win, Kesler became leader of the party. He won the

Olds-Didsbury Olds-Didsbury was a provincial electoral district in central Alberta, Canada, mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post method of voting from 1963 to 1997. It is noteworthy as the l ...

electoral district defeating

Stephen Stiles Anthony Stephen Stiles (born 25 March 1935) is a former member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. He was born at Oldham, England. Stiles first ran for the Progressive Conservatives in the February 1982 by-election in Olds-Didsbury that sa ...

of the Progressive Conservatives and Lloyd Quantz of Social Credit and three other candidates. During the 1982 general election, held only months later in November, Kesler lost his seat despite Western Canada Concept fielding a full slate. He had shifted districts to his home district of Highwood after promising to move to

if elected. The time he served was the second shortest between election and defeat in the legislature's history.

Harry Alger Harry Elliott Alger (April 8, 1924 – January 27, 2010) was a provincial level politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a Member of the Alberta Legislature from 1982 until 1989. Political career Alger was first elected to the Legislative A ...

from the Progressive Conservatives defeated him with a five thousand vote plurality. In a 1983 letter to the editor of the

Alberta Report The ''Alberta Report'' was a conservative weekly newsmagazine based in Edmonton. It was founded and edited by Ted Byfield, and later run by his son, Link Byfield. It ceased publication in 2003. Promoting his own successor publication in 2004, ...

Doug Christie Douglas Dale Christie (born May 9, 1970) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Standing at , he played the shooting guard p ...

, founder of the Western Canada Concept, accused Gordon Kesler of betraying separatism. Kesler and his party had been striving to distance themselves from the controversial Christie.

Electoral record

, colspan=2 align=center, *

References

External links

Early 80's SeparatismAlberta Legislative Assembly votes and proceedings Statement by the Speaker
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kesler, Gordon 1948 births Living people Western Canada Concept MLAs (Alberta) Western Canadian separatists