William "Bill" Edward Payne (born July 4, 1933) is a former provincial 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 Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. 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 1979 to 1993 sitting with the governing Progressive Conservative caucus. 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 Payne to the

Executive Council of Alberta The Executive Council of Alberta (the Cabinet) is a body of ministers of the Crown in right of Alberta, who along with the lieutenant governor, exercises the powers of the Government of Alberta. Ministers are selected by the premier and typical ...

. He briefly served as a minister without portfolio from 1982 to 1986. Payne was a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

.Roy A. Prete and Carma Prete,ed., ''Canadian Mormons: The History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Canada'' (Salt Lake City: BYU Religious Studies Center and Deseret Book, 2017), p. 265

Political career

Payne ran as a Progressive Conservative candidate 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 ...

in the electoral district of

Calgary-Fish Creek Calgary-Fish Creek is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. The district is large ...

. He won his first term defeating three other candidates with a landslide majority. Payne ran for a second term in office in the

1982 Alberta general election The 1982 Alberta general election was held on November 2, 1982, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Less than four years had passed since the Progressive Conservatives won their landslide victory in 1979. Premier Peter Lou ...

. He increased his majority finishing nearly 15,000 votes ahead of second place candidate Byron Chenger of the

Western Canada Concept The Western Canada Concept was a Western Canada, Western Canadian federal political party founded in 1980 to promote the separation of the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, and the Yukon and Northwest Territories ...

. After the election Payne was appointed minister without portfolio by Premier

. He held that cabinet portfolio for a single term. Payne won his third term and losing almost 10,000 votes from his 1982 total running in the

1986 Alberta general election The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

. He still finished well ahead winning the district with a third consecutive landslide. He ran for his fourth and final term in the 1989 Alberta genera election. His popular vote dropped again as support for Liberal candidate Wayne Gillis surged finishing approximately 1,500 votes behind Payne. He retired at dissolution of the Assembly in 1993.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
1933 births Living people Canadian Latter Day Saints Members of the Executive Council of Alberta Politicians from Windsor, Ontario Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs {{Alberta-politician-stub