Don Getty

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Hon. Donald Ross Getty MLA, OC, AOE
11th Premier of Alberta
In office 1 November 1985 – 14 December 1992
Preceded by	Peter Lougheed
Succeeded by	Ralph Klein
Born	August 30, 1933 (1933-08-30) (age 74) Westmount, Quebec
Political party	Progressive Conservative
Religion	United Church of Canada

Donald Ross Getty, OC, AOE (born in Westmount, Quebec, August 30, 1933), is a former quarterback with the Edmonton Eskimos, and a Canadian politician, who served as Premier of Alberta and as leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party between 1985 and 1992.

[edit] University, football career

Getty starred in Canadian football and basketball at the University of Western Ontario, and in 1955 was awarded the Claude Brown Memorial Trophy as the outstanding athlete at Western. ^[1] He played for two Ontario championship Yates Cup teams in football (1952 and 1953),^[2] and four Ontario championship Wilson Cup teams in basketball (1952-1955, one shared).^[3] Following graduation in 1955 in Business Administration from the Western Business School (now the Richard Ivey School of Business), he turned professional in football.

Getty, one of the best ever Canadian-born quarterbacks, played for the Eskimos for ten years in the 1950s and 1960s, during which time he led them to two Grey Cup wins, in 1955 and 1956. Together with his college championships, that made eight titles in six years in two different sports. Getty was mostly teamed up with Jackie Parker at the QB position on a team that excelled at running the ball. Still, the duo often combined to throw for over 2000 yards in each season. In total, Getty threw for 8940 yards on 532 completions from 992 attempts and with 60 interceptions to 57 touchdowns. While far behind a great many CFL passers, Getty remains third all-time among Canadian quarterbacks, behind Russ Jackson and Gerry Dattilio. Getty's sweater number 27 was placed in the Eskimos' Wall of Honour in 1992.

[edit] Political career

Getty came into the Legislative Assembly of Alberta as one of the six Tories elected in the 1967 election, along with Peter Lougheed. When the Tories won the 1971 election, Getty became Lougheed's minister of intergovernmental affairs, and in 1975 he became minister of energy. He left politics in 1979 to enter business, but returned in 1985 when Lougheed stepped down. Getty won the leadership of the Progressive Conservative (PC) party, and became premier of the province.

Getty's government easily won re-election in the 1986 election, but with a reduced majority in the legislature. The decline of oil prices, which imperilled the province's economy, hurt the Getty government, as did a perception of out-of-control government spending. In the 1989 election, the PC government again won re-election, but Getty lost his own seat in Edmonton Whitemud and had to run in a by-election in the safe Tory seat of Stettler. His government tried to cope with the province's economic problems by imposing a wage-freeze on the civil service and cutting public services. Upon winning his seat, Getty became the second member of the Alberta legislature to be elected in two by-elections, the other being Charles R. Mitchell.

Facing the possibility of electoral defeat, and following his success in negotiating Senate reform as part of the Charlottetown Accord, Getty announced his resignation as party leader in September 1992, prior to the referendum that defeated the Accord. Ralph Klein took his place as Premier. In 1998 Getty became an Officer of the Order of Canada.

In 1988 Alberta hosted a successful Winter Olympics in Calgary, during Getty's term as premier.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Embarrassment for Getty CBC Archives
• Alberta legislative assembly biography

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