Preston Manning

Ernest Preston Manning CC
Leader of the Official Opposition
In office 1997 – March 26 2000
Preceded by	Gilles Duceppe
Succeeded by	Deborah Grey (interim, acting) Stockwell Day
Leader of the Reform Party of Canada
In office October 31 1987 – March 25 2000
Preceded by	party created
Succeeded by	Stockwell Day (as leader of the Canadian Alliance)
Member of Parliament for Calgary Southwest
In office 1993 – January 31 2002
Preceded by	Bobbie Sparrow
Succeeded by	Stephen Harper
Personal details
Born	(1942-06-10) June 10, 1942 Edmonton, Alberta
Political party	Reform
Other political affiliations	Canadian Alliance (2000-2002)
Residence(s)	Calgary, Alberta

Ernest Preston Manning, CC (born June 10, 1942, in Edmonton, Alberta), is a conservative populist Canadian politician. He was the only leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a Canadian federal political party that evolved into the Canadian Alliance. He sat in Parliament for this party until retirement, after which it in turn merged with the Progressive Conservative Party to form today's Conservative Party of Canada.

Manning came from a political background: he was the son of Ernest Manning, Social Credit Party Premier of Alberta between 1943 and 1968. In 1964, Preston Manning graduated from the University of Alberta with a B.A. in Economics. He sought election to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1965 federal election as a candidate of the federal Social Credit Party, but was defeated. Manning identifies himself as an evangelical Christian and attends the First Alliance Church in Calgary.

Manning formed the Reform Party in 1987. His chief policy adviser was Stephen Harper, a student at the University of Calgary and now the Prime Minister of Canada. Harper designed the Reform Party's 1988 campaign platform. The Reform Party was a combination of fiscal conservatism and populism, though aspects of social-conservatism grew, branding the party as "very right-wing." All of the Reform Party's candidates were defeated in the 1988 federal election. However, the first Reform Member of Parliament, Deborah Grey was elected in a federal by-election in 1989 at Beaver River, Alberta. Manning was elected to the House of Commons in the 1993 federal election, when Reform experienced its first major electoral success, replacing the Progressive Conservative Party as Canada's dominant conservative party, with a base especially in Western Canada. In the 1997 election, the party became Canada's official opposition, with Manning becoming the Leader of the Opposition. It was during this period, when Manning lived in the Stornoway residence, that he was featured in a skit on the Canadian TV show, Royal Canadian Air Farce on December 31, 1997. This skit was one of three contenders for the Viewer's Choice "Flashback" for the episode airing on December 5, 2008.

With Reform's emergence, however, Manning fragmented the conservative vote into two parts - Reform and the weakened PC Party. With Canada's plurality voting system, the result was political domination by the Liberal Party. Consequently, Manning's new goal was to reunite the two conservative parties under his leadership, and he launched the United Alternative movement to examine ways for the parties to cooperate. The movement resulted in the formation of a new party, the Canadian Alliance, which as its full name (Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance) shows, was intended to supplant both parties. Most of the PC Party, however, refused to cooperate, and critics claimed the new party was little more than an image makeover for the Reform Party.

With the formation of the new party, Manning opened the door for rival leadership bids in the Canadian Alliance leadership election.

After a fiercely close campaign, Manning was succeeded as leader by the younger and more flamboyant Stockwell Day in 2000.

Manning published his memoirs of political life, Think Big: Adventures in Life and Democracy, in October 2003. He ends the book by promising to "scout" the future of Canada; he is in this sense continuing to write about policy, especially policy that he feels will be detrimental to the future of the country.

Manning founded the Manning Centre for Building Democracy in 2005 to train conservatives for active political life. Manning also served as Governor General for the British Columbia Universities Model Parliament Society (BCUMP) in January 2006. He is also a senior fellow with the Fraser Institute and the Canada West Foundation. He has received honorary doctorates from York University and Tyndale University College.

Following the "crushing blow" received by Ralph Klein in the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party's leadership review vote in which Klein received the support of only 55% of delegates, Manning told Canadian Press that he was "leaving the door open" for a possible bid in the Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership election being held to choose a successor to Ralph Klein. He announced on May 18, 2006 that he would not be a candidate in the leadership election, citing a desire to remain close to family and to influence politics by generating new policy ideas through the Manning Centre.

During this deliberations and since Manning has advocated for a shift to green conservatism in Canada.

Muriel Manning, Preston's mother and an Alberta socialite, died on April 21, 2006, at Rockyview General Hospital in Calgary, Alberta, at the age of 95. Muriel was married to Ernest Manning.

He was appointed to be a Companion of the Order of Canada on 29 June 2007. Also in 2007, Manning hosted a Canadian adaptation of the radio series This I Believe on CBC Radio One. On 11 July 2008 Manning was appointed to the Council of Canadian Academies by Stephen Harper.

Video

• Speaking on Re-Engaging Canadians in Democracy on May 20, 2008

Further reading

• Think Big: Adventures in Life and Democracy by Preston Manning
• Like Father, Like Son by Lloyd MacKey

External links

• PrestonManning.ca
• Manning Centre