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Tom Monto

Grant Notley's legacy

Updated: Jun 10, 2021

Grant Notley, leader of the NDP, served as MLA for a Peace River district from 1971 to his tragic death in 1984.


Peace River was the last-opened frontier farming district in Alberta. It is said that it was partly pioneered by economic refugees fleeing the effects of capitalist crisis in economic crashes before and after WWI. During the 1930s, the Peace River was outside the range of radio coverage so the votes there were not inundated to the same extent by Aberhart's Social Credit/Back to the Bible propaganda.


The people's tradition of free thinking can be seen to this day.


Notley was living in Edmonton in 1971 when he ran as the NDP candidate in the Peace River area so he was a "parachute candidate." When elected, it was not a case of local representation, said to be the great thing provided by First Past The Post electoral system. He immediately relocated to live in the provincial constituency that he represented in the Legislature.


Notley's class outlook - his desire for farmers and workers to retain more of the wealth they produce - matched the outlook of many voters in the district. His calls for pro-people public programs -- to address the needs of farmers and workers, old and young, sick and injured -- found support among the area's voters. And he was re-elected three times.


Until two years before his death, he was the sole voice of the NDP in the Legislature so was an important political figure. (This was despite the fact that the NDP was proportionally due many more seats than that but were denied them due to the inaccuracy of the First Past The Post electoral system.)


His fight is continued on by his daughter Rachel.


His memory is also kept alive in these other ways:


In 2010 the Peace River farm district Dunvegan-Central Peace-Notley was renamed Central Peace-Notley. Notley had represented the area as MLA from 1971 to his death in 1984.


A statue was erected in his honour in Edmonton's Grant Notley Park near the Lemarchand Mansion, 100th Avenue and 118 Street.


Socialism and Democracy Essays in Honour of Grant Notley (NeWest Press, 1987) was published after his death.


The biography Grant Notley The Social Conscience of Alberta by Howard A. Leeson was published by UofA Press in 1992, reprinted 2015.


He is not forgotten.


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