Today marks the 40th anniversary of the death in an airplane crash of Grant Notley, a man who left a greater mark on Alberta than his position as the leader of a small political party with only one seat in the Legislature would suggest he should have.
Nowadays when Mr. Notley is mentioned, it’s usually in connection with his famous daughter, Alberta’s first NDP premier and the leader of a well-run government that sure looks good compared to the clown car whose occupants hold the keys to the Alberta Legislature today.
But we should also give the Didsbury native credit for laying the foundation of an organization that kept the New Democratic Party’s candle burning in Alberta through some very lean times in the long years after he was chosen as party leader in 1968 at the tender age of 29.
Mr. Notley inherited a party, as political commentator Graham Thomson wrote for the Canadian Encyclopedia, “that was out of money and torn apart by infighting.” The Alberta NDP had laid off its staff and closed its office, but Mr. Notley set about the task of rebuilding the organization from the ground up.
In the 1971 election, which brought Peter Lougheed’s Progressive Conservative party to power, Mr. Notley won the seat in the Spirit River-Fairview riding. He was the only NDP MLA in the Legislature.
The Canadian Encyclopedia quotes his friend Howard Leeson, author of Grant Notley: The Social Conscience of Alberta, describing the young MLA. “Throughout Grant’s career there is a consistency, a devotion to the rights of the underprivileged, the disadvantaged, the ‘little guy’ in society, that cannot be completely explained by electoral opportunism.”
Saskatoon writer and illustrator Karin Melberg Schwier recalled meeting Mr. Notley in the 1970s. “My parents, who dairy farmed in Fairview, always spoke of him with high regard,” she wrote in a 2015 blog post. “A kind, decent man with a social justice approach. Mom says he never struck her as a politician who was ‘campaigning,’ but instead as someone who cared about the issues and the views of his neighbours.
“She remembers he stopped by after milking one day. She was in the kitchen separating cream. He came in and sat down on an empty cream can for a visit. My parents remember him fondly an approachable, down-to-earth man.”
I only met Mr. Notley once as a cub reporter at The Calgary Herald circa 1972. He struck me much the same way, a person of kindness, conviction and civility. When a party stalwart drank a couple of brews too many after the meeting, it was Mr. Notley who gently assisted him to the car of the volunteer who took the fellow home.
Mr. Notley would hang onto the Spirit River-Fairview riding in the Tory sweep of 1975. In 1982, the NDP would double its representation in the Legislature to two seats. In March 1983, the Speaker of the Assembly declared the NDP to be the Official Opposition.
But the real breakthrough, sadly, didn’t come until after Mr. Notley’s death near Lesser Slave Lake in that plane crash on Oct. 19, 1984. He was only 45.
Ray Martin, who inherited the leadership of the Alberta NDP, a post he would occupy for a decade, said then of Mr. Notley: “He never got discouraged. He knew it was an uphill battle. He figured our time would come. He kept us going. There would not be an NDP through the rough times if it had not been for Grant Notley.”
In the 1986 Alberta election, the NDP won 16 seats and nearly 30 per cent of the vote. The party has had its ups and downs since then, but it has always remained on the provincial political radar.
It’s formed a majority government once, under Ms. Notley, and may again.
In 2010, the Spirit River-Fairview constituency was renamed Dunvegan-Central Peace-Notley.
Thx David.
RIP, Grant Notley, a good man gone too soon. I still remember the cold chill in the air when I heard the news. How different things might have been.
Was thinking federally with glee, with the lil pp ads, how the con voters are going to be surprised when that sh**sh** opens in Ottawa. Then I thought about Alberta here and was really discouraged. Hope your day is better.
Thanks for the post. While it is true that Grant Notley laid the seed for this party to grow, it was nurtured by years of work to get it to its place today.
One always wonders what would have been if Mr. Notley had not sadly, tragically died in that accident in the 1980’s. Even though the party was very small, he seemed like the logical successor to government in power, even at that time. But he did leave his small party in a good position to eventually become government, and it is likely without all his effort and leadership that would not have happened.
Maybe he was a model from a past era, but I feel those who are most successful in leadership are often are those who are pragmatic, like and understand people, not those who are smooth communicators able who stir up anger, play on division and fear. The old model is somewhat out of style right now, but I have been around long enough to see things go in and out of fashion.
Anger and division may be good for opposition politics, but does not work well for governing. I feel the turning point in Alberta and Canada will come if there is a change in the Federal government, when voters realize that despite Smith and Poilievre’s attempts to blame all the problems on the current government that they don’t all just magically go away with a change of Federal government.
I remember seeing a newspaper about this tragic plane crash. Had Peter Lougheed not been in politics, Grant Notley would have been quite similar to Peter Lougheed. In 2015, Ralph Klein’s daughter, Angie Klein, made it clear that she was voting for Rachel Notley and the NDP, because she was disappointed in what Ralph Klein did to Alberta. Allan Warrick, a cabinet minister in the Alberta PCs, when Peter Lougheed was premier, compared Rachel Notley to Peter Lougheed. The UCP are showing how much like Ralph Klein they are, which is really bad.
I met him on a plane from Edmonton to Peace River. He sat across the aisle from me and we had a great chat. He really impressed me.
For those who haven’t read it, let me recommend Carol Shaben’s book about that fateful plane crash outside High Prairie, “Into the Abyss”. The author’s father, the late Larry Shaben, was also a passenger on that ill-fated flight.
Mr Shaben was, at the time, a Cabinet Minister in the PC government of the day, and was distinguished by being the first Muslim Cabinet Minister in any Canadian government.
He was seriously injured but survived the crash, partly due to the wilderness survival and first aid efforts of another passenger on the flight: a prisoner in RCMP custody who is credited with saving many of the lives on that flight.
He went on with his political career until 1989 when he retired from public life, and passed away in 2008.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18186951-into-the-abyss
Hello DJC.
Thank you for the informative column. I was relatively new to Alberta at that time, so I don’t know that much about Grant Notley. He sounds like a caring and nice person.
I volunteered in Fairview (full time) on his last campaign and he was an honourable person. For instance when the paid party organizer was making fun out of a fire at a Cargill elevator he said that it was inappropriate to enjoy the misfortune of others. He and his wife were wonderful people. Of course his legacy is also hers, as she was there every step of the way.