James Stewart Edwards (born August 31, 1936) is a former

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 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 ...

Early life

James Stewart Edwards was born on August 31, 1936 in

Edmonton, Alberta 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 anch ...

to Donald Stewart Edwards and Verna May Armstrong. Edwards attended the

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

attaining 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 year ...

. He married Sheila Mary Mooney on September 10, 1960 and had four children together. Edwards served as the Commissioner of the Alberta Human Rights Commissioner from 1979 to 1980.

Political career

He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1984 general election as a Progressive Conservative from

. He served as a parliamentary secretary to several ministers in the government of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Brian Mulroney. Following Mulroney's resignation as PC leader and prime minister in 1993, Edwards was a candidate at the PC leadership convention held to choose a successor. He placed third. Edwards ran on a platform of cutting federal spending by $10-billion per year until the deficit and national debt were wiped out, reducing the size of Cabinet from 35 to 20, reviewing defense spending, freezing support to the European Bank for Renewal and Development, privatizing all

Crown Corporations A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...

including

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the opera ...

, and reducing international funding. He was appointed chief government Whip and

President of the Treasury Board The president of the Treasury Board () is a minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet. The president is the chair of the Treasury Board of Canada (a committee of Cabinet in the Privy Council) and is the minister responsible for the Treasury ...

in the short lived cabinet of Prime Minister

Kim Campbell Avril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell (born March 10, 1947) is a Canadian politician, diplomat, lawyer, and writer who served as the 19th prime minister of Canada from June 25 to November 4, 1993. Campbell is the first and so far only female ...

. He lost his seat in that year's 1993 election that reduced the Tories to only two

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

in the House.

Later life

Edwards was the president and CEO of Economic Development

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 ...

from 1998 to 2002 and served as the chair of the board of governors at the

from March 2002 to 2006. Edwards received an honorary

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor ...

from the University of Alberta in 2006.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Jim 1936 births Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada University of Alberta alumni Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidates