John Brian Zaozirny (born June 26, 1947) is a businessman, lawyer and 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. He 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 singl ...

from 1979 to 1986 and served as the

Minister of Energy An energy minister is a position in many governments responsible for energy production and regulation, developing governmental energy policy, scientific research, and natural resources conservation. In some countries, environmental responsibilities ...

from 1982 to 1986.

Political career

Zaozirny first ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature in the

1979 Alberta general election The 1979 Alberta general election was held on March 14, 1979, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, which had been expanded to 79 seats. The Progressive Conservative Party of Peter Lougheed won its third consecutive term in go ...

as a Progressive Conservative candidate. He defeated five other candidates in the new electoral district of Calgary-Forest Lawn. In the 1982 general election he won by a massive landslide and nearly doubled his plurality from the 1979 election. After the 1982 election Premier

Peter Lougheed Edgar Peter Lougheed ( ; July 26, 1928 – September 13, 2012) was a Canadian lawyer and Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, Progressive Conservative politician who served as the tenth premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985, presiding ...

appointed Zaozirny Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. On behalf of the Government of Alberta he negotiated the end to the

National Energy Program The National Energy Program (french: Programme énergétique national, NEP) was an energy policy of the Canadian federal government from 1980 to 1985. Created under the Liberal government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau by Energy Minister Marc L ...

which resulted in the Western Energy Accord. For this the Alberta Chamber of Resources named him Resource Man of The Year in 1985. Zaozirny remained Minister of Energy after

Don Getty Donald Ross Getty (August 30, 1933 – February 26, 2016) was a Canadian politician who served as the 11th premier of Alberta between 1985 and 1992. A member of the Progressive Conservatives, he served as Energy Minister and Federal and Intergo ...

became Premier in 1985. He retired from provincial politics at dissolution of the Legislature in 1986.

Business career

After leaving politics, Zaozirny joined the law firm of Russell & DuMoulin as a partner. Less than a year later he joined McCarthy Tétrault LLP as counsel in its corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions group for Calgary and Vancouver. In 1987 the University of Calgary gave him its Distinguished Alumni award. In 1988 Zaozirny joined Pengrowth Energy Corporation's board of directors and continues to serve with the company as chairman of the board of directors. He is also Vice Chair and Director of Canaccord Capital and a director of a number of other public companies.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaozirny, John 1947 births Living people Alumni of the London School of Economics Members of the Executive Council of Alberta Politicians from Calgary Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs University of Calgary alumni Canadian lawyers Businesspeople from Calgary