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Ron Basford | |
|---|---|
 Official 1974 portrait | |
| Born | Stanley Ronald Basford (1932-04-22)April 22, 1932 |
| Died | January 31, 2005(2005-01-31) (aged 72) |
Stanley Ronald BasfordPC (April 22, 1932 – January 31, 2005) was a Canadian politician and lawyer who was a long-timecabinet minister[1] in theLiberal government ofPierre Trudeau.[2] Based inBritish Columbia, he was known as "Mr. Granville Island"[3] for his support of theGranville Island redevelopment project inVancouver.[4]
Basford was first elected to theHouse of Commons of Canada in the1963 Canadian federal election as a member of theLiberal Party of Canada, representing the district ofVancouver Centre. After winning re-election in1968, he held several cabinet positions over the next decade under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, includingMinister of National Revenue from 1974 to 1975 andMinister of Justice and Attorney General from 1975 until his retirement from the Cabinet in 1978. He did not seek reelection in the1979 Canadian federal election and resumed his law career.
Born inWinnipeg,Manitoba Basford moved with his mother toComox, British Columbia, following the death of his father, where he completed his last three years of high school. He then attended theUniversity of British Columbia, earning a law degree in 1956. Following his period of Articles, he was admitted to the Bar, and practised law for the next six years.
Basford had become interested in politics in his early teenage years and was very active in the Liberal Party while at university. He was nominated as theLiberal candidate inVancouver—Burrard in March 1962 and contested the election in June of that year, losing by 94 votes.
Basford was first elected to theHouse of Commons of Canada as the Liberalmember of Parliament forVancouver—Burrard in the1963 election and was re-elected in the1965 election. From 1968 to 1979, he represented theriding ofVancouver Centre.
In 1968, Trudeau brought Basford into Cabinet asMinister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs. He subsequently served asMinister of State for Urban Affairs (1972–1974),Minister of National Revenue (1974–1975), andMinister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada (1975–1978).
As Vancouver's leading cabinet minister, Basford is credited with helping to scuttle plans for anexpressway along the city's waterfront that would have levelled theGastown andChinatown neighbourhoods, for encouraging local planning and neighbourhood improvement, and for helping win federal support for the construction of thousands of units of co-operative housing in the city.
As Consumer and Corporate Affairs minister, Basford shepherded the passage of legislation that dramatically reduced pharmaceutical prices. This gave Canada the lowest drug prices in the industrialized world into the late 1980s when the legislation was repealed by theMulroney government. Basford also had passed into law theHazardous Products Act that eliminated flammable children's bedding and clothing from the market. His most controversial move, at the time, was the adoption of theSI (metric) system as Canada's official standard of weights and measures. This provoked strong opposition from many Canadians but has since been accepted.
During his 30 months as Minister of State for Urban Affairs, Basford led the new Ministry into the uncharted waters of Federal/Provincial/Municipal consultation and cooperation through the development of Tri Level Conferences and working groups, improving the relationships among Canada's three levels of government. At the same time, he sponsored a complete revision of the National Housing Act, which initiated an era of wider programs of social housing and financial aid to municipalities through the Neighbourhood Improvement Program and the Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program.
As Justice minister, Basford arranged aclemency agreement that keptabortion rights campaigner and practitionerHenry Morgentaler out of jail. He was also Justice minister in 1976 when Canada abolishedcapital punishment, and when theCanadian Human Rights Act was amended to requireequal pay for equal work regardless of gender.
Basford retired from cabinet in 1978, as the longest-serving minister from BC since Confederation, and did not run in the1979 election. He practised law with the Vancouver law firm of Davis and Company, and was named coordinator by the governments of BC and Canada of the complex Northeast Coal Development in 1982.
Ron Basford Park at Granville Island is named after him.
| 1974 Canadian federal election:Vancouver Centre | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Liberal | Ron Basford | 19,064 | 41.74 | +0.39 | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Doug Davis | 17,143 | 37.53 | +7.27 | ||||
| New Democratic | Ron Johnson | 8,859 | 19.39 | −7.26 | ||||
| Social Credit | Walter Muller | 257 | 0.56 | −0.79 | ||||
| Communist | Betty Greenwell | 213 | 0.47 | – | ||||
| Marxist–Leninist | Charles Shrybman | 141 | 0.31 | – | ||||
| Total valid votes | 45,677 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Liberalhold | Swing | −3.44 | ||||||
| 1972 Canadian federal election:Vancouver Centre | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Liberal | Ron Basford | 19,341 | 41.35 | −14.75 | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | John McDonald | 14,156 | 30.26 | +11.89 | ||||
| New Democratic | Ron K. Johnson | 12,470 | 26.66 | +2.05 | ||||
| Social Credit | Nicholas Zambus | 632 | 1.35 | – | ||||
| Independent | Arnold August | 77 | 0.16 | – | ||||
| Independent | Ray Dodge | 55 | 0.12 | – | ||||
| Independent | Daniel Ivan Fedoruk | 46 | 0.10 | – | ||||
| Total valid votes | 46,777 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Liberalhold | Swing | −13.32 | ||||||
| 1968 Canadian federal election:Vancouver Centre | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Liberal | Ron Basford | 25,426 | 56.10 | +16.02 | ||||
| New Democratic | William Deverell | 11,151 | 24.60 | +1.54 | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | David W. Kilgour | 8,326 | 18.37 | −9.43 | ||||
| Republican | Gerard Guejon[5] | 420 | 0.93 | – | ||||
| Total valid votes | 45,323 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Liberalhold | Swing | +7.24 | ||||||
| Parliament of Canada | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Vancouver—Burrard 1963–1968 | Succeeded by Last member, riding abolished in 1966 |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre 1968–1979 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs 1968–1972 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of National Revenue 1974–1975 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Justice 1975–1978 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Solicitor General of Canada 1978 | Succeeded by |