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James Stewart Edwards PC (born August 31, 1936) is a former Canadian politician from Alberta.

Early life

James Stewart Edwards was born on August 31, 1936, in Edmonton, Alberta to Donald Stewart Edwards and Verna May Armstrong. Edwards attended the University of Alberta attaining a Bachelor of Arts. He married Sheila Mary Mooney on September 10, 1960, and had four children together. Edwards served as the Commissioner of the Alberta Human Rights Commissioner from 1979 to 1980.

Political career

He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1984 general election as a Progressive Conservative (PC) from Alberta. He served as a parliamentary secretary to several ministers in the government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

Following Mulroney's resignation as PC leader and prime minister in 1993, Edwards was a candidate at the PC leadership convention held to choose a successor. He placed third. Edwards ran on a platform of cutting federal spending by $10 billion per year until the deficit and national debt were wiped out, reducing the size of Cabinet from 35 to 20, reviewing defence spending, freezing support to the European Bank for Renewal and Development, privatizing all Crown Corporations including Canada Post, and reducing international funding.

He was appointed chief government Whip and President of the Treasury Board in the short-lived cabinet of Prime Minister Kim Campbell. He lost his seat in that year's 1993 election that reduced the Tories to only two members of Parliament in the House.

Later life

Edwards was the president and CEO of Economic Development Edmonton from 1998 to 2002 and served as the chair of the board of governors at the University of Alberta from March 2002 to 2006. Edwards received an honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Alberta in 2006.

References

1. ^ O'Handley, Kathryn, ed. (1993). The Canadian Parliamentary Guide. Toronto: Globe and Mail Publishing. p. 217. ISBN 1414401418. OCLC 1176180932. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
2. Newman, Peter C. (May 24, 1993). "Jim Edwards, the would-be kingmaker". Maclean's. p. 28. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
3. "The Honourable James S. Edwards". cerc.gc.ca. Canada Excellence Research Chairs. Retrieved December 26, 2020.

External links

• Jim Edwards – Parliament of Canada biography

• 1936 births
• Living people
• Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta
• Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidates
• Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs
• Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada
• University of Alberta alumni
• 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada