John Sylvester Weisgerber (June 12, 1940 – June 3, 2022) was a Canadian politician and businessman. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly in

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. During his political career he was briefly the leader of the

British Columbia Social Credit Party The British Columbia Social Credit Party, whose members are known as Socreds, was the governing provincial political party of British Columbia, Canada, for all but three years between the 1952 provincial election and the 1991 election. For fou ...

and the

Reform Party of British Columbia The Reform Party of British Columbia (Reform BC) is an unregistered right-wing populist political party in British Columbia, Canada. Although its name is similar to the defunct Reform Party of Canada, the provincial party was founded before the ...

. After leaving politics, he was appointed to the board of

BC Hydro The British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority, operating as BC Hydro, is a Canadian electric utility in the province of British Columbia. It is the main electricity distributor, serving more than 4 million customers in most areas, with the exce ...

in 2001, and served as a member of the British Columbia Treaty Commission.

Political career

Weisgerber was first elected to the British Columbia legislature in

1986 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 enter ...

as a

Social Credit Party of British Columbia The British Columbia Social Credit Party, whose members are known as Socreds, was the governing provincial political party of British Columbia, Canada, for all but three years between the 1952 provincial election and the 1991 election. For f ...

candidate for

Peace River South Peace River South is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada. It was created under the name South Peace River by the ''Constitution Amendment Act, 1955'', which split the old riding of Peace R ...

. He served in the Social Credit government in several posts including Minister of State for the Northeast and Nechako, Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, and as British Columbia's first Minister of Native Affairs. When Social Credit was soundly defeated in the 1991 election, Weisgerber was one of only seven Socred candidates to win re-election. Weisgerber became interim leader of the party. In 1994, after failed attempts to revive the party, Weisgerber became one of four Social Credit members of the legislature to switch allegiances, joining the fledgling

. BC Reform, as it was known, espoused similar policies to the

Reform Party of Canada The Reform Party of Canada (french: Parti réformiste du Canada) was a right-wing populist and conservative federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada-based protest ...

, but was a separate entity. Weisgerber ran for the BC Reform leadership and was elected party leader in late 1994. Through 1995 and in the months before the 1996 election, Weisgerber faced challenges by some members of his party from southern Vancouver Island. In the May 1996 election, the BC Reform Party won nine percent of the popular vote and two seats in the legislature, one of which was Weisgerber's in Peace River South. However, the party failed to win the four seats required for official party status in the British Columbia legislature. A split in the centre-right vote between Weisgerber's BC Reform Party and Gordon Campbell's Liberals is cited as a factor for the New Democratic Party winning the 1996 BC election. Weisgerber resigned as BC Reform's leader in late 1996, and was replaced by

Wilf Hanni Wilf Hanni is a politician and oil industry consultant in British Columbia, Canada. Hanni served as leader of the Reform Party of BC from August 30, 1997 to June 1998, and later as leader of the British Columbia Party, and the BC Conservative P ...

in September 1997. Following a bruising round of party in-fighting, Weisgerber left Reform to sit as an independent member of the BC legislature. Weisgerber served out his third and final term in the BC legislature ending in 2001. He was the last surviving member of what proved to be the last Socred government. Shortly before the 2001 election, Weisgerber endorsed the

British Columbia Liberal Party The British Columbia Liberal Party, often shortened to the BC Liberals, is a centre-right provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party currently forms the Official Opposition. Subsequent to the 2020 British Columbia genera ...

and its leader,

Gordon Campbell Gordon Muir Campbell, (born January 12, 1948) is a retired Canadian diplomat and politician who was the 35th mayor of Vancouver from 1986 to 1993 and the 34th premier of British Columbia from 2001 to 2011. He was the leader of the British Co ...

. After winning the election, Campbell appointed Weisgerber as a director of

, beginning on September 25, 2001. He served in that position until July 19, 2017, when the BC Liberals lost power. He was a Commissioner of the

British Columbia Treaty Commission The British Columbia Treaty Process (BCTP) is a land claims negotiation process started in 1993 to resolve outstanding issues, including claims to un-extinguished indigenous rights, with British Columbia's First Nations. Two treaties have been ...

Personal life

Jack was married to Judith Weisgerber (born Janke) to which they had two daughters; Joanne Wooldridge (born Weisgerber) and Pamela Haglof (born Weisgerber); and three grandsons Josh, Luke, and Cole and one granddaughter Jemma. He resided in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. Weisgerber died on June 3, 2022 at the age of 81.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weisgerber, Jack 1940 births 2022 deaths British Columbia Social Credit Party leaders British Columbia Social Credit Party MLAs Canadian corporate directors Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia People from Barrhead, Alberta Reform Party of British Columbia MLAs