Peter W. Prebble (born September 13, 1950) is a Canadian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

and

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

. He was an elected representative in the

Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan The Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan is the legislative chamber of the Saskatchewan Legislature in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. Bills passed by the assembly are given royal assent by the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan, in the na ...

for 16 years between 1978 and 2007 and has been a longtime member of the Saskatchewan Environmental Society.

Early life and education

Prebble was born in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, England, the son of Reginald Allen Prebble. In 1961, Prebble and his parents, Reg and Trudy, moved to

Salmon Arm Salmon Arm is a city in the Columbia Shuswap Regional District of the Southern Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia that has a population of 17,706 (2016). Salmon Arm was incorporated as a municipal district on May 15, 1905. The ...

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, ...

, where the family operated a dairy farm. They later relocated to

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

, where they operated a motel and cottages. Prebble completed a university degree in business administration and began working as a community development worker, but ultimately followed his parents to Saskatchewan, where he pursued a graduate degree in education. Prebble holds two Master's degrees from the

University of Saskatchewan A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

, one in Education and another in Sustainable Environmental Management.

Political career

Prebble had a long career as a New Democratic Party member of the Saskatchewan legislature, representing the constituencies of

Saskatoon Sutherland *'' Sutherland is a neighborhood or subdivision of the University Heights SDA, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.'' Saskatoon Sutherland was a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, Canada. It was last contested in th ...

from 1978 to 1982, Saskatoon University from 1986 to 1991, and Saskatoon Greystone from 1999 to 2007. He frequently contended with constituency boundary changes in a rapidly growing

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as th ...

. Prebble staked a claim as the "comeback kid" of Saskatchewan politics, returning to the legislature after losing his seat on two occasions and unsuccessfully attempting a comeback out of retirement in 2011. He also served in the government's of three different premiers:

Allan Blakeney Allan Emrys Blakeney (September 7, 1925April 16, 2011) was the tenth premier of Saskatchewan from 1971 to 1982, and leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (NDP). Early life and career Born in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Blakeney took his ...

Roy Romanow Roy John Romanow (born August 12, 1939) is a Canadian politician and the 12th premier of Saskatchewan from 1991 to 2001. Early life Romanow was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, to Tekla and Michael Romanow, who were Ukrainian immigrants from Or ...

, and

Lorne Calvert Lorne Albert Calvert (born December 24, 1952) was the 13th premier of Saskatchewan, from 2001 to 2007. Calvert served as leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party from 2001 to June 6, 2009, when he was succeeded by Dwain Lingenfelter. Ea ...

. Prebble was first elected in the 1978 provincial election in

. In the 1982 election he ran for re-election in the re-instated neighbouring district of Saskatoon University, but was defeated by

Rick Folk Rick may refer to: People *Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name *Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality *Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...

of the Progressive Conservatives. He ran again in the 1986 election, that time defeating Folk. After that riding was dissolved ahead of the 1991 election, Prebble ran in the new district of Saskatoon Greystone that year, but was defeated by

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

leader

Lynda Haverstock Lynda Maureen Haverstock ( Ham; born September 16, 1948) is the former leader of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party, was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, and served as the 19th Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan from 2000 un ...

. He did not run in the 1995 election. Following Haverstock's retirement, however, Prebble was re-elected in the 1999 election and served the district for two terms before retiring ahead of the 2007 election. Prebble distinguished himself in government early on when he became a vocal critic of his own party's

uranium mining Uranium mining is the process of extraction of uranium ore from the ground. Over 50 thousand tons of uranium were produced in 2019. Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia were the top three uranium producers, respectively, and together account f ...

policies; Prebble was the lone NDP MLA to vote against expanding mining activity in 1979, citing in particular concerns about the global nuclear arms race. Prebble later held a number of cabinet positions during his time in Lorne Calvert's government, where he championed sustainability and renewable energy. He acted as the Legislative Secretary for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation from 2006 to 2007. In this role he authored "Renewable Energy Development and Conservation in Saskatchewan," also known as the Prebble Report, which advanced dozens of recommendations on expanding energy conservation and renewable energy development in the province. Prebble helped launch an energy conservation office, which operated for six years before it was closed by the Saskatchewan Party government following the 2007 election. He was encouraged to come out of retirement to run in Saskatoon Greystone again in the 2011 election. He did so, citing his concerns about the dismantling of environmental programs by the new Saskatchewan Party government and stating that he was "determined to reverse these decisions and... to build a renewable energy future in the province." However, Prebble lost to incumbent

Rob Norris Rob Norris is a former Canadian politician and retired government relations officer. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan from 2007 to 2016 as a member of the Saskatchewan Party, and formerly a member of the Saskatchewan ...

Post politics

In the mid-1990s, Prebble was the coordinator for Saskatoon Communities for Children. After his first retirement from politics in 2007, he acted as the director of energy and water policy for the Saskatchewan Environmental Society (SES). From 2012 to 2016 Prebble was the director of environmental policy for SES, a role in which he authored and co-authored numerous reports and articles on climate and energy policy. He remains a Board Member with SES. He also served as the President of the Board for the SES Solar Coop. Prebble has been a vocal critic of the Saskatchewan Party government's environmental and climate change policies. He has also been an advocate for ecosystem and wildlife preservation.

Electoral results

, - ,

NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National ...

, Peter Prebble , align="right", 3,174 , align="right", 37.94 , align="right", -0.87 , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 8,366 !align="right", 100.00 !align="right", , - , style="width: 130px" ,

, Peter Prebble , align="right", 4,287 , align="right", 49.09 , align="right", +1.23 , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 8,733 !align="right", 100.00 !align="right", , - , style="width: 130px" ,

, Peter Prebble , align="right", 3,630 , align="right", 47.86 , align="right", +4.78 , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 7,585 !align="right", 100.00 !align="right", , - ,

, Peter Prebble , align="right", 4,009 , align="right", 37.94 , align="right", * , Prog. Conservative , Gary Hellard , align="right", 1,094 , align="right", 10.35 , align="right", * ,

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 ...

, Leslie Cushion , align="right", 40 , align="right", 0.39 , align="right", * , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 10,565 !align="right", 100.00 !align="right", , - , style="width: 130px" ,

, Peter Prebble , align="right", 3,400 , align="right", 44.38 , align="right", * , Prog. Conservative ,

, align="right", 2,744 , align="right", 35.81 , align="right", * , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 7,662 !align="right", 100.00 !align="right", , - , Prog. Conservative , Rick Folk , align="right", 3.490 , align="right", 47.28 , align="right", * , style="width: 130px" ,

, Peter Prebble , align="right", 3,041 , align="right", 41.20 , align="right", * , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 7,381 !align="right", 100.00 !align="right", , - , style="width: 130px" ,

, Peter Prebble , align="right", 5,007 , align="right", 43.26 , align="right", * , Prog. Conservative , Bill Lane , align="right", 4,722 , align="right", 40.79 , align="right", * , - bgcolor="white" !align="left" colspan=3, Total !align="right", 11,574 !align="right", 100.00 !align="right",

References

External links

Saskatchewan Environmental Society Board
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prebble, Peter Living people 1950 births Saskatchewan New Democratic Party MLAs Politicians from Saskatoon 20th-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian politicians Sustainability advocates