Edward Schreyer
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The Right Honourable 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 Economics in 1963. He served as a professor of International Relations at St. Paul's College of the University of Manitoba from 1962 to 1965.
On June 30, 1960, 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 Federation, representing the rural constituency of Brokenhead. He held the riding until 1965, when he resigned to run successfully for the House of Commons. Schreyer returned to provincial politics in 1969, and was elected on June 8 as leader of the New Democratic Party of Manitoba. (See New Democratic Party of Manitoba leadership conventions.) 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 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 along with his wife Lily Schreyer.
As Governor General, Schreyer championed women's issues, the environment, and official 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.
In 2003, Schreyer supported Bill Blaikie's campaign to become leader of the federal New Democratic Party.
| Preceded by: Jules Léger | Governor General of Canada 1979–1984 | Succeeded by: Jeanne Sauvé |
| Preceded by: Walter Weir | Premier of Manitoba 1969-1977 | Succeeded by: Sterling Lyon External links
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