Ronald D. Ghitter (born August 22, 1935) is a

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 ...

lawyer and politician. He served as a 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 August 30, 1971 to March 13, 1979 sitting with the governing Progressive Conservative caucus. Ghitter was appointed to the

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the B ...

on March 25, 1993 where he sat as a senator from Alberta until his retirement on March 31, 2000.

Life and career

Born 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 ...

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 ...

, he received his

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 ...

degree in 1956 and his

Bachelor of Law Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degree in 1959 from 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 ...

. He practised real estate law in Calgary. From 1986 to 1988, he was Executive Vice President of Development at

Trizec Corporation Trizec Properties, Inc., previously known as TrizecHahn Corporation, was a real estate investment trust headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It was originally a Canadian company. The name is derived from the initials of the three groups (Tri) that f ...

. He was first elected as a member of the

for the electoral district of

Calgary-Buffalo Calgary-Buffalo is a current provincial electoral district in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 districts mandated to return a single member (MLA) to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of ...

in the 1971 Alberta general election, defeating popular

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-old ...

star

Don Luzzi Don Luzzi (August 20, 1935 – October 30, 2005) was a politician and professional football player who played in the Canadian Football League. CFL career After playing college football at Villanova University, Don Luzzi played 12 seasons for the ...

from the

Alberta Social Credit Party Alberta Social Credit was a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on social credit monetary policy put forward by Clifford Hugh Douglas and on conservative Christian social values. The Canadian social credit movement wa ...

in a very tight race. He was elected again in 1975 and then retired, having served two terms. As a member of the Progressive Conservative caucus, Ghitter was a critic of many decisions made by his party, including purchasing

Pacific Western Airlines Pacific Western Airlines Ltd (PWA) was an airline that operated scheduled flights throughout western Canada and charter services around the world from the 1950s through the 1980s. It was headquartered at Vancouver International Airport in Ri ...

and the governments use of the Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund. Ghitter announced he would not retire from the legislature in November 1978, and not contest the upcoming 1979 Alberta general election. Following revelations that

Eckville Eckville is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is west of Red Deer on Highway 766 just north of Highway 11. History Eckville gets its name from A. E. T. Eckford, a pioneer citizen. Eckville relocated to its current location in 1912, af ...

school teacher

James Keegstra James "Jim" Keegstra (March 30, 1934 – June 2, 2014) was a public school teacher and mayor in Eckville, Alberta, Canada, who was charged and convicted of hate speech in 1984. The conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal of Alberta but r ...

had taught his students anti-semitic propaganda, Ghitter headed a Committee on Tolerance and Understanding. The committee investigated issues of tolerance and understanding within the educational system. This committee released its report to the government in 1984. Ghitter re-entered politics in 1985 to run for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party but came in third losing to

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 ...

. He was appointed to the Senate in 1993 representing the senatorial division of Alberta. From 1996 to 1999, he was the Chair of the Senate Standing Committee of Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources. Sitting as a Progressive Conservative, he resigned in 2000. In 1990, he was awarded the Alberta Human Rights Award. He was awarded the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

on May 11, 2018 for his work on human rights legislation and various social issues.

Electoral record

1975 general election

Party leadership contest

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghitter, Ron 1935 births Living people Canadian senators from Alberta Jewish Canadian politicians Members of the Order of Canada Politicians from Calgary Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs Progressive Conservative Party of Canada senators University of Alberta alumni University of Alberta Faculty of Law alumni