Gerald William "Ged" Baldwin, (January 18, 1907 – December 16, 1991) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician who was known as the "Father and Grandfather" of the ''

Access to Information Act Access may refer to: Companies and organizations * ACCESS (Australia), an Australian youth network * Access (credit card), a former credit card in the United Kingdom * Access Co., a Japanese software company * Access Healthcare, an Indian BPO se ...

''.

Life and career

Born in

Palmerston, New Zealand The town of Palmerston, in New Zealand's South Island, lies 50 kilometres to the north of the city of Dunedin. It is the largest town in the Waihemo Ward of the Waitaki District, with a population of 890 residents. Palmerston grew at a major roa ...

, Baldwin was educated 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 ...

, Alberta and became a lawyer. He stood unsuccessfully for 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 ...

in the 1935 general election, as the Conservative candidate in the riding of

Peace River The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in th ...

. During

World War II 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 opposin ...

, he served with the Canadian Army in Britain and Europe. . He first ran for the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

, as a Progressive Conservative in the riding of

against

Solon Low Solon Earl Low (January 8, 1900 – December 22, 1962) was a Canadian politician, farmer, teacher, and school principal in the 20th century. Early life Solon Earl Low was born in Cardston, District of Alberta, Northwest Territories on January ...

, the leader of the

Social Credit Party of Canada The Social Credit Party of Canada (french: Parti Crédit social du Canada), colloquially known as the Socreds, was a populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform. It was the federal wing of the Canadi ...

. He was defeated, but ran against Low again in the 1958 election and was successful. From 1962 to 1963, he was the Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister

John Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electio ...

. From 1968 to 1973 and again from 1974 to 1976, he was the Official Opposition House Leader and Progressive Conservative Party House Leader. He retired from Parliament in 1980. In 1982, he received an honorary Doctor of Law degree from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

. In 1985, he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

. The citation for his investiture reads in part: "His efforts have stimulated many others to take up the cause f freedom of information thus encouraging governments in many jurisdictions across Canada to adopt similar legislation." He published his autobiography, ''Frontier Justice'', in 1987. Baldwin's wife Beulah is the sister of Wilbur Freeland, paternal grandfather of

Chrystia Freeland Christina Alexandra Freeland (born August 2, 1968) is a Canadian politician serving as the tenth and current deputy prime minister of Canada since 2019 and the Minister of Finance (Canada), minister of finance since 2020. A member of the Libe ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baldwin, Ged 1907 births 1991 deaths Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta Officers of the Order of Canada Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs Canadian autobiographers New Zealand emigrants to Canada