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Home > Edward Schreyer


Edward Richard Schreyer (born December 21, 1935, Beausejour , Manitoba) is a former Governor General of Canada ( 1979- 1984) and Premier of Manitoba ( 1969- 1977).

Edward Schreyer studied at United College, St. John's College and the University of Manitoba. He received a Bachelor of Pedagogy in 1959, a Bachelor of Education in 1962, a Master of Arts in International Relations and a second Master of Arts in EconomicsEconomics is the social science studying how society uses its limited resources to meet desires and wants. Put otherwise, economics studies what, how and for whom society produces. This involves analyzing the production, distribution and consumption of go in 1963Events January-March January 11 The Whisky A Go-Go night club in Los Angeles, the first disco in the USA, is opened. January 14 George Wallace becomes governor of Alabama. January 22 Elysee treaty between France and Germany January 28 Black student Harvey. He served as a professor of International Relations at St. Paul's College of the University of Manitoba from 1962 to 1965.

On June 30June 30 is the 181st day of the year (182nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 184 days remaining. Events 1651 Battle of Beresteczko ends with Polish victory 1864 Abraham Lincoln grants Yosemite Valley to California for "public use, resort and, 1960Events January-February January 1 Independence of Cameroon January 9 Aswan High Dam construction begins in Egypt January 11 Chad declares its independence. January 14 Ralph Chubb, the gay poet and printer, dies at Fair Oak Cottage in Hampshire. January 23, Edward Schreyer married Lily Schulz. The couple had two daughters, Lisa and Karmel, and two sons, Jason and Tobin.

In the provincial election of 1958 , Schreyer was elected to the Manitoba Legislature as a member of the Manitoba Cooperative Commonwealth FederationThe Manitoba Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (or CCF) was a provincial branch of the national Canadian party by the same name. The national CCF was the dominant social-democratic party in Canada from the 1930s to the early 1960s, when it was dissolved, representing the rural constituency of Brokenhead . He held the riding until 19651965 was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). Events January-February January 4 United States President Lyndon Johnson proclaims his " Great Society" during his State of the Union address. January 14 Prime Ministers of N, when he resigned to run successfully for the House of CommonsThe House of Commons (in French, la Chambre des communes is the directly elected lower house of the Parliament of Canada which sits in the nation's capital of Ottawa, Ontario. Leadership Prime Minister and Cabinet Under the Westminster system, the prime m. Schreyer returned to provincial politics in 1969, and was elected on June 8 as leader of the New Democratic Party of Manitoba. He led his party to a watershed electoral victory shortly thereafter, and served as Premier of Manitoba from 1969 until 1977.

Schreyer differed in many respects from the previous leaders of Manitoba's New Democratic Party. From a rural background, and not committed to socialism as an ideology, Schreyer was able to win the support of many centrist voters who had not previously identified with the NDP. A German-Austrian Catholic (his maternal grandparents were Austrians who emigrated from western Ukraine), he was also the first leader of the Manitoba CCF/NDP who was not of an Anglo-Saxon and Protestant background.

Schreyer's government initiated many important changes during its first term in office, from 1969 to 1973. It amalgamated the city of Winnipeg, introduced public automobile insurance and significantly reduced medicare premiums. The government's second term ( 1973 to 1977) was marked by less innovation, though it introduced mining tax legislation in 1974. In 1977, Scheyer's New Democrats were defeated by the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba under Sterling Lyon.

As Premier, Schreyer sometimes favoured policies separate from those of the federal New Democratic Party. In 1970, for instance, he supported Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's decision to invoke the War Measures Act in response to the October Crisis in Quebec, despite the objections of federal party leader Tommy Douglas.

Schreyer was appointed Governor General in 1979, and moved into Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Ontario. He was the first ever Governor General from Manitoba, and at the age of 43, was the youngest Governor General since Lord Lorne in 1878 (33 years old) and Lord Lansdowne in 1883 (38 years old). Also in 1979 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

As Governor General, Schreyer championed women's issues, the environment, and bilingualism. During his first year in office, he established the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case, recognizing the efforts of Emily Murphy and others to ensure that Canadian women would be constitutionally recognized as persons. He instituted the Governor General's Conservation Awards in 1981, and in 1983 created the Edward Schreyer Fellowship in Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto. Also in 1983, he presided over the first Governor General's Canadian Study Conference (which has subsequently occurred every four years).

Upon retiring from the Governor-General's position in 1984, Schreyer announced that he would donate his pension to the Canadian Shield Foundation, an environmental organization. He was sworn into the Privy Council later in the year, and was subsequently appointed Canadian High Commissioner to Australia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. He held those positions until 1988.

Schreyer then returned to Winnipeg, Manitoba and worked as a national representative of Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit housing organization. He is also an Honorary Director of the Sierra Legal Defence Fund, and Honorary Advisor to the Canadian Foundation for the Preservation of Chinese Cultural and Historical Treasures, and a Founding Member of the Winnipeg Library Foundation.

In 1999, Schreyer publicly endorsed Gary Doer's bid to become Premier of Manitoba. He also accused the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba of spreading false information about the criminal record of Tom Nevakshonoff, the NDP's candidate in Interlake . Schreyer's comments were not approved in advance by the Manitoba NDP, and were regarded at the time as very surprising. His position was vindicated in 2001, when local Tory organizer Heather Campbell-Dewar pleaded guilty to defaming Nevakshonoff's character and making a false or misleading statement to the police.


Preceded by:
Jules Léger
Governor General of Canada
1979–1984
Followed by:
Jeanne Sauvé
Preceded by:
Walter Weir
1967-1969
Premier of Manitoba
1969-1977
Succeeded by:
Sterling Lyon
1977-1981


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