Constance Elaine "Connie" Osterman (born June 23, 1936) is a former 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. She served in 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 sin ...

from 1979 to 1992 as a member of the Progressive Conservative caucus in government. She served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Premier

Peter Lougheed Edgar Peter Lougheed ( ; July 26, 1928 – September 13, 2012) was a Canadian lawyer and Progressive Conservative politician who served as the tenth premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985, presiding over a period of reform and economic growth. Bo ...

and

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 ...

from 1982 to 1989.

Political career

Osterman first ran for a seat to the

in the 1979 general election, as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the electoral district of

Three Hills Three Hills is a town in southern Alberta, Canada. It takes its name from the three somewhat-larger-than-normal hills to its north. History Three Hills post office dates from 1904. Three Hills was incorporated as a village in 1912, the year ...

; she defeated three other candidates by a large margin. 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 ...

Osterman won nearly quadruple the votes of her two opponents to hold her seat. She was then appointed Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs by Premier

. Osterman was only the fifth woman in Alberta political history to be appointed to the provincial cabinet. When

became Premier in 1985, he appointed Osterman Minister of Social Services and Community Health. In the 1986 general election Osterman won a straight fight against NDP candidate Vernal Poole with a huge majority. After the election Getty changed Osterman's portfolio to the Ministry of Social Services. In the 1989 general election she defeated three other candidates to keep her seat. Osterman was removed from cabinet by Premier Getty one week after a judicial inquiry into the

Principal Group The Principal Group was a group of interrelated Canadian financial companies that collapsed in 1987, resulting in losses to an estimated 67,000 people. Losses were in recovered in part through provincial governments paying compensation, based on ...

scandal was completed in July 1989. As Minister Osterman rejected recommendations from an Assistant Deputy Minister Darwish regarding the insolvent state of Principal Group subsidiaries. Darwish later testified that he interpreted a phone call from Osterman as a threat to his career when he insisted on a meeting to discuss the issue, and Darwish retired six months later. Eventually on June 30, 1987, Treasurer Dick Johnston cancelled the operating licenses of the subsidiaries which resulted in Principal Group declaring bankruptcy six weeks later. The inquiry headed by William Code found Osterman "neglectful and misguided" when she failed to act on the warnings of Darwish. Osterman resigned her seat in the legislature on May 5, 1992.

Late life

Osterman has served on the board of directors for the ''Head Injured Relearning Society'' in Calgary.

References

External links

Legislative Assembly of Alberta Members Listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osterman, Connie 1936 births Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs Women MLAs in Alberta Living people Members of the Executive Council of Alberta Women government ministers of Canada