Lorne Nystrom
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The Hon. Lorne Nystrom, (born April 26, 1946) a Canadian politician, was a member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1968 to 2004, except for an interval from 1993, when he lost re-election, to 1997. At the time of his first victory he was the youngest Canadian ever elected to Parliament.
Born in Wynyard, Saskatchewan, he has run for the leadership of the federal New Democratic Party (NDP) three times.
Nystrom placed third at the 1975 leadership convention, losing to Ed Broadbent. In 1992, he was appointed to the Queen's Privy Council for Canada.
In 1995, Nystrom was considered a leading contender for the leadership during the campaign, but at the convention he finished third on the first ballot, behind Svend Robinson and Alexa McDonough, and was dropped. Although Robinson had finished first on that ballot, he conceded to McDonough before the second ballot as he felt that Nystrom's support would have gone almost entirely to McDonough, giving her the victory. (Reportedly, a number of Nystrom's labour delegates voted for McDonough, fearing a Robinson victory and reasoning that McDonough would be better placed than Nystrom to defeat Robinson on the final ballot.)
Nystrom ran for the NDP leadership again in the 2003 leadership election, placing third.
Nystrom has been one of the strongest advocates of proportional representation in Canada, and believes that the NDP should follow the third way example of Tony Blair to grow popular support for the social democratic party.
After losing his seat in the 2004 federal election, it was announced that Nystrom would stay in Ottawa as an unpaid advisor to the NDP caucus on the issue of electoral reform.
| Preceded by: Simon De Jong, N.D.P. | Member of Parliament for Regina—Qu'Appelle (formerly Qu'Appelle) (2000-2004) | Succeeded by: Andrew Scheer, Conservative |
| Preceded by: federal riding created in 1966 | Member of Parliament for Yorkton—Melville (1968-1993) | Succeeded by: Garry Breitkreuz, Reform |
External link
- Lorne Nystrom - NDP (http://action.web.ca/home/ndpnpd/en_whoswho.shtml?sh_itm=b31ffe49fe0f04ac6354a7295e9345b6)
- The Online Office of Lorne Nystrom (http://www.lornenystrom.ca)