Lorne Calvert

Infobox Prime Minister


honorific-prefix = Reverend
name = Lorne Albert Calvert
honorific-suffix = MLA BA
| caption = Lorne Calvert
office1 = 13th Premier of Saskatchewan
term_start1 = February 8, 2001
term_end1 = November 21, 2007
predecessor1 = Roy Romanow
successor1 = Brad Wall
office3 = Leader of the Opposition
term_start3 = November 21, 2007
term_end3 =
predecessor3 = Brad Wall
successor3 =
birth_date = birth date and age|1952|12|24
birth_place = Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
death_date =
death_place =
party = NDP
spouse = Betty Sluzalo
religion = United Church of Canada|

Lorne Albert Calvert MLA (born December 24, 1952 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan) is the former premier of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan and current leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. He is the leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party.

In 1975, Calvert married Betty Sluzalo of Perdue, Saskatchewan. After attending the St. Andrew's College seminary in Saskatoon, he was ordained as minister of the United Church of Canada in 1976 and served as minister of several rural congregations. From 1979 to 1986, Calvert was the minister of the substantial pastoral charge of Zion United Church in Moose Jaw.

He entered provincial politics in the 1986 provincial election, running as a New Democrat on a platform of prohibiting the construction of a proposed casino in Moose Jaw. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the constituency of Moose Jaw South.

He was re-elected in the 1991 and 1995 elections in the riding of Moose Jaw Wakamow, and in a 2001 by-election in former premier Roy Romanow's riding of Saskatoon Riversdale.

Following the resignation of NDP leader and Premier Roy Romanow, Calvert won the NDP leadership, and became premier on February 8, 2001.

Calvert and the NDP narrowly defeated the centre-right opposition Saskatchewan Party in the 2003 provincial election. The NDP won 30 seats of the 58 seats in the election. During the campaign, Calvert apologized for an internal cartoon that had been leaked to the media. It depicted Saskatchewan Party leader Elwin Hermanson loading NDP sympathizers onto rail cars. The cartoon referred to speculation that, if elected, Hermanson would replace civil servants who were NDP supporters with Saskatchewan Party supporters. B'nai Brith Canada stated that the cartoon "trivializes the crimes of the Holocaust and causes undeserved anguish to those who survived that evil regime". [ [http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2003/10/14/cartoon031014.html] [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1066228569054_61637769///?hub=Canada] [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031014.wndp1014/BNStory/National/] ]

He has been featured in one of the episodes of "Corner Gas", a comedy series set in Saskatchewan.

Calvert was also engaged in a war of words with federal Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott over how the clawback of non-renewable resource revenues from the equalization formula as implemented in the 2007 federal budget. Calvert argued that the province would get less under the new federal formula. [ [http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/194620 TheStar.com - News - Tory MP calls Sask. premier 'liar' ] ]

Calvert and his government were defeated in the 2007 provincial election, dropping to 20 seats while the Saskatchewan Party under Brad Wall won a majority government with 38. He has not yet made any formal announcement about his future in politics, although federal New Democratic Party spokesman Brad Lavigne told reporters that the party had asked Calvert to consider standing as a candidate in the 40th Canadian federal election. [ [http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/local/story.html?id=811a39f0-4d5f-4d60-8aef-441a7d0576f1 "Federal NDP woo Calvert for election"] , "Saskatoon StarPhoenix", November 20, 2007.] Calvert declined the offer, although he stated that he would work hard to assist the party's federal candidates [ [http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/story.html?id=67a5ea80-b1db-48d2-9089-2117f06a97a5&k=8191 "Calvert all but rules out federal politics"] , "Regina Leader-Post", November 23, 2007.] .

References

External links

* [http://www.lornecalvert.ca Lorne Calvert, MLA]