Gordon Samuel Dales Wright (June 28, 1927 – October 18, 1990) was a lawyer who served as a Crown Prosecutor for the Attorney General's office, and a politician who served in 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 1986 until his death in 1990. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Wright was raised in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and came to Edmonton in 1953.MLA Gordon Wright dies: tributes pour in: INAL EditionRICHARD HELM Journal Staff Writer. Edmonton Journal; Edmonton, Alta. dmonton, Alta9 Oct 1990: B1.

Political career

Wright joined the

Cooperative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialistThe follo ...

party in the 1950s. He first ran for the Alberta legislature in the 1967 general election in the electoral district of

Edmonton North Edmonton North was a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1979 to 2004. Demographics Geography The riding consisted of the northern part of the city of Edmonton, Alberta. H ...

; he lost to incumbent Social Credit MLA Ethel Wilson. In 1968 he ran for the leadership of the Alberta NDP and lost to

Grant Notley Walter Grant Notley (January 19, 1939 – October 19, 1984) was a Canadian politician. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1971 to 1984 and also served as leader of the Alberta NDP from 1968 to 1984. Early life Notl ...

by 27 votes. He then became President of the party, and later held numerous other positions on the party's executive. In the 1971 general election, Wright ran in the electoral district of Edmonton-Belmont. He lost to Progressive Conservative candidate Bert Hohol. In the 1975 general election, Wright ran in

Edmonton-Strathcona Edmonton-Strathcona is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada. It shares the same name as the federal electoral district of Edmonton Strathcona. The boundaries of Edmonton-Strathcona include the neig ...

and finished a strong second to incumbent

Julian Koziak Julian Gregory Joseph Koziak (born 16 September 1940) is a former politician from Alberta, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1971 to 1986. He was the son of John Harry and Marie (née Woytkiw) Koziak. Political caree ...

. He ran against Koziak again in the 1979 general election; he doubled his popular vote since the last election but was unable to defeat him. He ran against Koziak for a third time in the 1982 general election and finished 500 votes behind him in the closest election he'd fought yet. In the 1986 general election Wright defeated Koziak and became an MLA on his sixth attempt at office. He was re-elected in the 1989 general election. He died of pancreatic cancer on October 18, 1990, while still in office.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Gordon 1927 births 1990 deaths Alberta New Democratic Party MLAs Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Canada Deaths from cancer in Alberta Politicians from Edmonton Politicians from Kingston, Jamaica