The Honourable Donald R. Getty was
Alberta's eleventh
Premier. As well as being prominent in Alberta politics, he is well-known
in Canadian business and sports.
Donald Ross Getty was born on August 30, 1933, at
Westmount, Quebec. He is the son of C. Ross Getty and Beatrice
Hampton. Donald R. Getty is a member of the United Church of Canada.
He attended public and secondary schools in Montreal,
Ottawa, Toronto, and London (Ontario). While attending Sir Adam Beck
Collegiate in London, he captained the school's football and basketball teams,
was elected President of the Student's Council, and represented the school in
the Ontario Leaders' Club.
While attending the University of Western Ontario, he
quarterbacked the University of Western Ontario Mustangs to the Eastern
Collegiate Union football championship in 1954 and again in 1955. He also
played Starting Guard on the basketball team that won the Senior Collegiate
Championship of Ontario in 1952, 1953, and 1954. He was awarded the Claude
Brown Trophy as Western's Most Outstanding Athlete of 1955, and was a member of
the Kappa Alpha Fraternity. He graduated in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts
(Honors) degree in Business Administration. In 1980, he was elected to the
University of Western Ontario's "W" Club Hall of Fame.
On June 18, 1955, he married Margaret I. Mitchell,
daughter of W.C. Mitchell of London, Ontario. They have four sons: Dale,
David, Darin, and Derek.
On their honeymoon, the Gettys travelled to Edmonton,
Alberta, so that Donald R. Getty could begin his professional football
career. He played for the Edmonton Eskimos for the next ten years, helping
them win two Grey Cup championships. He was the Quarterback on the 1956
championship team. In 1959, he was named Outstanding Canadian in the
Western Canada Football League and was runner-up for the Schenley Award as
Outstanding Player in the Canadian Football League.
In 1955, Donald R. Getty began working for Imperial Oil
Limited in Edmonton. In 1961, he was hired as Lands and Contracts Manager
with Midwestern Industrial Gas Limited, and was appointed Assistant General
Manager in 1963. In 1964, he formed Baldonnel Oil and Gas Company, serving
as President and Managing Director. He became a partner in the investment
firm of Doherty, Roadhouse, and McCuaig in 1967.
The Leader of Alberta's Progressive Conservative
Party , E.
Peter Lougheed , asked Donald R. Getty to consider entering Alberta provincial
politics in 1965. At the 1967 provincial election, he was elected Member
of the Legislative Assembly for the electoral district of Strathcona West.
From 1967 to 1971, he served as a Member of the Official
Opposition . In
1971 and 1975, he was reelected as the Member for Edmonton Whitemud.
In 1971, the Progressive Conservative Party won the
majority of seats in the Alberta Legislature and formed the provincial
government. Donald R. Getty was appointed Minister of the new Department
of Federal and Intergovernmental Affairs on September 10, 1971. Following
the 1975 election, he was appointed Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
effective April 3 of the same year.
Wishing to spend more time with his family, he did not
stand for reelection in 1979. Upon returning to the private sector, he
founded the investment firm of D. Getty Investments Limited, serving as its
President. From 1981 to 1985, he served as Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer of the Nortek Energy Corporation located at Nisku, Alberta. He
also served on the Board of Directors of the Alberta Gas and Ethylene Company
Limited, Brinco Limited, Celanese Canada Incorporated, D. Getty Investments
Limited, the Interprovincial Steel and Pipe Corporation (Chairman of the Board),
the Nortek Energy Corporation, the Nova Corporation of Alberta, the Northern
Life Assurance Company of Canada, Novacor Chemicals Limited, Pacific Copper
Mines Limited, Placer Development Limited, Pacific Trans-Ocean Resources
Limited, and the Royal Bank of Canada. He was also a member of the Board
of Governors of the Resources of Canada Fund.
In 1985, Donald R. Getty reentered Alberta provincial
politics and was elected Leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party on
October 13 of the same year. He was appointed Premier of Alberta on
November 1, 1985, by Lieutenant-Governor W. Helen Hunley. On December 11,
1985, he rejoined the Legislative Assembly by winning a by-election in his
former riding of Edmonton Whitemud.
He led his party to victory at the general elections of
1986 and 1989, although he lost his own seat of Edmonton Whitemud in 1989.
A by-election on May 9, 1989, returned him to the Legislative Assembly
representing the electoral district of Stettler.
The major priorities of the Alberta Government under the
leadership of Premier Donald R. Getty were agriculture and rural
development, energy development, the family, and economic diversification,
including the growth of forestry, high technology, and tourism. His
government had also taken the lead in the development of non-conventional oil
projects.
Other accomplishments of the Getty Government include a
strong record of fiscal management, self-government for Metis Settlements,
private telelphone lines for rural Albertans, the election of Canada's only
elected Senator, and the creation of Family Day.
Donald R. Getty enjoys golf, horse racing, and
hunting. He has been active in community affairs serving as a Director of
the Edmonton Eskimos Football Club, Governor of the Edmonton Petroleum Club,
Director of the Derrick Golf and Winter Club, and adviser and fund raiser for
the Alberta Northern Lights Wheelchair Basketball Team. In December, 1990,
he was made an Honorary Chief ("Kinnosayoo") of the Whitefish Lake
Band (Cree).
In 1992, Donald Getty resigned as Premier of Alberta and
left the political arena. In 1998, he was appointed an Officer of the
Order of Canada.
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