Jeremy Dalton BA (22 September 1942 – 28 May 2005) was a Canadian politician and lawyer. He was a member of the

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

and later an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

. He served as MLA for the riding of

West Vancouver-Capilano West Vancouver-Capilano is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada. The riding is the wealthiest constituency in British Columbia, with a median household income of $93,569 according to the 200 ...

for two terms after the

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

and 1996 elections.

Personal life

Before entering politics, Dalton attended the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

and a law degree. He also ran a private law practice and taught at

Langara College , mottoeng = Knowledge is Freedom , established = April 1, 1994 , type = Public , endowment = C$5.8 million , administrative_staff = , faculty = , president = Paula Burns , students = 22,000 , city = Vancouver, British Columbia , coun ...

. He was married to Leah Dalton and had three children.

Political career

1991 election

He was first elected in the

1991 British Columbia general election The 1991 British Columbia general election was the 35th provincial election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on September 19, 1991, ...

for the district of

, winning a majority of votes, every

poll Poll, polled, or polling may refer to: Figurative head counts * Poll, a formal election ** Election verification exit poll, a survey taken to verify election counts ** Polling, voting to make decisions or determine opinions ** Polling places o ...

, and the second-highest margin in the province. While in opposition, Dalton was critic for labour and consumer services early on. He was education critic after that, In the rumblings leading up to the Gordon Wilson-

Judi Tyabji Judeline Kim Mary Tyabji (born 2 January 1965) is a former British Columbia politician, who was the youngest elected Member of the Legislative Assembly and the ex-wife of former provincial Leader of the Opposition Gordon Wilson. Early life T ...

scandal, he replaced

Gary Farrell-Collins Gary Collins, formerly referred to as Gary Farrell-Collins prior to 2001 (born August 22, 1963), is a Canadians, Canadian former politician, who served as a BC Liberal Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1991 to 2004, re ...

as opposition

whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

. After Tyabji's sacking as opposition house leader, he was appointed to that position by Liberal Leader Gordon Wilson. Later in 1993 he became critic for attorney-general. While justice critic, Dalton (and most of the Liberal opposition) took the unusual step of supporting NDP attorney-general

Colin Gabelmann Colin Stuart Gabelmann (born February 11, 1944) is a former politician in British Columbia. He represented North Vancouver-Seymour from 1972 to 1975 and North Island from 1979 to 1996 in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia as a New Dem ...

after the latter admitted to including incorrect information in a court

affidavit An ( ; Medieval Latin for "he has declared under oath") is a written statement voluntarily made by an ''affiant'' or '' deponent'' under an oath or affirmation which is administered by a person who is authorized to do so by law. Such a statemen ...

so as to not have to appear in court. The day after Dalton and the rest of the Liberals reversed their position.

1996 election

In the lead-up to the 1996 election, Dalton may have had a harder-than-usual nomination. He eventually became the candidate and was re-elected. His 71.3% of votes was the highest in any riding that election. After that election, he again became labour critic.

1997 conflict of interest case

On June 24, 1997, Dalton was forced to resign as labour critic after it was revealed that he wrote a letter to a government bureaucrat regarding an issue he had a financial stake in: a

gravel pit A gravel pit is an open-pit mine for the extraction of gravel. Gravel pits often lie in river valleys where the water table is high, so they may naturally fill with water to form ponds or lakes. Old, abandoned gravel pits are normally used eithe ...

under development near a ranch that his wife and father-in-law were part owners of. Liberal 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 ...

asked the province's conflict of interest commissioner to investigate shortly thereafter after it surfaced that he had written as many as four letters about the same issue, including two to different government cabinet ministers. Dalton later became deputy environment critic after a shadow cabinet shuffle. The commissioner eventually concluded that although it was inappropriate, it was not a conflict of interest because he was acting as a private citizen, and that he should not have been using MLA stationary for personal matters.

Later career and dismissal

Similar affairs would eventually lead to the end of Dalton's political career. The second time was when he used his MLA letterhead in a personal matter, this one involving

Handsworth Secondary School Handsworth Secondary School is a high school in the district of North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and part of School District 44 North Vancouver. As of September 2020, the school reported 1544 students enrolled in Grades 8–12, the larg ...

, where two of his children were attending. At the time he was deputy education critic and was left a

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

er as a result. The third letter, again about the gravel pit and ranch, resulted in his suspension from

caucus A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...

for three months. His suspension lasted from April 5, 2000, to July 10, 2000. After returning to caucus, he publicly supported a tunnel being built as a

third crossing of Burrard Inlet Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * High ...

. Dalton was permanently dismissed from Liberal caucus and sat as an

on January 11, 2001. This time it was because he publicly reprimanded two

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

(RCMP) officers at the scene of an accident. He sat as an independent for the remainder of the term and ran in the 2001 election, but was defeated. After minor continuing involvement in politics after the 2001 election, Dalton died on May 28, 2005, succumbing to complications following surgery.

References

External links

Profile at BC Legislature
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalton, Jeremy 1942 births 2005 deaths British Columbia Liberal Party MLAs Lawyers in British Columbia People from North Vancouver Politicians from Vancouver University of British Columbia alumni Peter A. Allard School of Law alumni Langara College people