Jonathan Joseph Lord (December 29, 1956 – March 25, 2014) was a Canadian politician and member of 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

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.

Early life

Lord was born Jonathan Joseph Brown in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

and raised in on a homestead in rural Central Alberta. Lord started his first business at age 18 (A Appolo Painting - named as such so that it would be listed in the first page of the phone book) and has owned and operated small businesses ever since. As a young adult, Brown, a diehard fan of the band

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

, changed his surname to Lord as a tribute to one of their founders,

Jon Lord John Douglas Lord (9 June 194116 July 2012) was an English orchestral and rock composer, pianist, and Hammond organ player known for his pioneering work in fusing rock with classical or baroque forms, especially with the British rock band Deep ...

. Lord attended 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 ...

studying Business Administration and Commerce (first class standing). He then established Casablanca Video in Calgary, which became the 11-time Readers Choice Award Winner as Calgary's best Video Rental outlet (''FFWD'' magazine). Casablanca was honoured as one of four finalists for Alberta Small Business of the Year, Premier's Award, Alberta Chamber of Commerce in 2007 and in 2012 was still open as one of Canada's oldest surviving video rental outlets. Casablanca is well known in the community for its support of volunteer charities and local community initiatives. In 1985, Lord was the Founding Chairman of one of Alberta's first Business Revitalization Zones (BRZ) which named the district "Marda Loop" in 1985. Lord was Founding Chairman of Alberta's first BRZ Summerfestival which they named Marda Loop "Marda Gras" summer festival, first held in 1985. Lord became the Founding Chairman of the Federation of Business Revitalization Zones (FedBRZ), representing all the provincial BRZs in the Province of Alberta, encompassing about 5000 mostly small businesses.

Political career

Lord ran for Calgary City Council in 1995, and was elected as Alderman for Ward 8 for two consecutive terms. Lord introduced ISO14000 while on Council, now the basis of the City's environmental planning policies. In the 2001 Alberta election, Lord was the Progressive Conservative candidate for the

electoral district An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

Calgary-Currie Calgary-Currie is a provincial electoral district in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It was created in 1971 and is mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. The distric ...

and was elected Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). Lord served on many MLA committees, including Chair of the School Construction and Operating Costs, which identified potential saving of 25% in new school building costs, Chair of the Secondary Suites Review Committee which established building codes for secondary suites under the Alberta Building Codes for the first time, Chair of Special Places 2000 which finalized the designation as environmentally protected of nearly 7000 km² of provincial land and created over 60 new provincial parks. He also served on the Alberta's Place within Confederation Committee. Lord was one of three MLAs who requested and formed the so-called Dumb Rules committee, aimed at reducing red tape and government inefficiencies. In the 2004 Alberta election Lord was defeated by Dave Taylor of the Liberals. In the 2010 Calgary election Lord came in fifth place of 17 candidates who had not dropped out, and was selected as "Best Choice" for Calgary Mayor by the Foundation for Democratic Advancement in a 96-page audit of mayoral candidates. Lord spent $40,000 in this election in which most top finishers spent over $300,000 - one spent $1 million, but also did not win. The election was won by

Naheed Nenshi Naheed Kurban Nenshi (born February 2, 1972) is a Canadian politician who was the 36th mayor of Calgary, Alberta. He was elected in the 2010 municipal election with 39% of the vote, and is the first Muslim mayor of a large North American city. ...

with reported expenditures of $404,000. Lord ran for the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

nomination for the

Calgary Centre Calgary Centre (french: Calgary-Centre; formerly known as Calgary South Centre) is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1968. The riding consists of many young adul ...

by-election held in late 2012. Lord ran in the 2013 Calgary civic election for mayor. He gained 21% of the popular votes and lost to

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

Naheed Nenshi. He was Chairman of BBQ on the Bow, Canada's oldest Kansas City Barbeque Society sanctioned barbecue competition.

Death

Lord died of a heart attack at his home in Calgary on March 25, 2014. He was 57.

References

Calgary Mayoral election results

2010 Calgary municipal election candidate finance disclosures

Jon Lord backgrounder

Jon Lord dies of heart attack

External links

Jon Lord homepageJon Lord's old constituency page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lord, Jon 1956 births 2014 deaths Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs Calgary city councillors 21st-century Canadian politicians