William "Vasile" Yurko MLA MP (February 11, 1926 – February 2, 2010) 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 ...

and the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...

. Yurko was born in 1926 in Hairy Hill, Alberta of

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

and

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

descent. He served two years in the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, then graduated with distinction as a chemical engineer 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 worked for 17 years (six of them within the

Atomic Energy of Canada Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) is a Canadian federal Crown corporation and Canada's largest nuclear science and technology laboratory. AECL developed the CANDU reactor technology starting in the 1950s, and in October 2011 licensed thi ...

) before 1969, when he entered politics. He was elected Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) as a candidate of the

Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta (often referred to colloquially as Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta) was a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta that existed from 1905 to 2020. The party f ...

in the Strathcona East riding by-election on February 10, 1969, following the resignation of Premier

Ernest Manning Ernest Charles Manning, (September 20, 1908 – February 19, 1996), a Canadian politician, was the eighth Premier of Alberta between 1943 and 1968 for the Social Credit Party of Alberta. He served longer than any other premier in Alberta's histor ...

. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the

Edmonton Gold Bar Edmonton-Gold Bar is a provincial electoral district, in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 87 in the province mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. The di ...

riding in 1971 and re-elected in 1975. In 1979 he was elected to the House of Commons for the

Edmonton East 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 anchor ...

riding as a candidate of the

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC; french: Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada) was a centre-right federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003. From Canadian Confederation in 1867 until 1942, the ...

, and he held the seat until 1984, when he ran as an

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 ...

for the same riding, but lost to William Lesick. *In 1971, he held the portfolio of Environment Minister in the Alberta Cabinet. *In 1977, he held the portfolio of Housing and Public Works Minister. *1979–1984, he was a Member of Parliament in the 31st and

32nd Canadian Parliament The 32nd Canadian Parliament was in session from April 14, 1980, until July 9, 1984. The membership was set by the 1980 federal election on February 18, 1980, and it only changed slightly due to resignations and by-elections prior to being disso ...

s. *On September 23, 1983, he tabled Bill C-691 (and on March 14, 1984, tried again with Bill C-228) to pardon

Louis Riel Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of Canada and its first ...

.Act to revoke the conviction of Louis Riel
The act was not passed until 1992. *After 1985 he was a Member of the Senate and Board of Governors of the

References

Members of the Executive Council of Alberta Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs 1926 births 2010 deaths Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Canadian people of Romanian descent Farmers from Alberta 20th-century Canadian politicians Royal Canadian Air Force personnel of World War II {{Alberta-politician-stub