Sterling Rufus Lyon (January 30, 1927 – December 16, 2010) was a Canadian lawyer, cabinet minister, and the 17th premier of Manitoba from 1977 to 1981. His government introduced several fiscally-conservative measures, and was sometimes seen as a local version of the government of Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom. He also successfully fought for the inclusion of the notwithstanding clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Early life
Born in Windsor, Ontario, the son of David Rufus Lyon and Ella Mae Cuthbert, he moved with his family to Manitoba at a young age and grew up in Portage la Prairie.
Lyon ran for the House of Commons of Canada in 1974 for the federal Progressive Conservatives, narrowly losing the riding of Winnipeg South to Liberal incumbent James A. Richardson.
The following year, Lyon returned to provincial politics to challenge Sidney Spivak for the Progressive Conservative Party's leadership. Spivak, a former cabinet colleague of Lyon's who had been elected party leader in 1971, was a Red Tory opposed by many of the more conservative figures within his caucus. The right wing of the party consolidated around Lyon's challenge, and he defeated Spivak by fifty-seven votes at a very divisive leadership convention in December 1975. Lyon returned to the legislature for the rural riding of Souris-Killarney in a 1976 by-election.
Premier of Manitoba
In 1977, Lyon transferred to the west Winnipeg seat of Charleswood. He led the Progressive Conservative Party to an upset victory over Edward Schreyer's New Democrats), picking up 12 seats for a total of 33. Lyon's government cut spending in several departments and reduced investment in several social programs sponsored by the NDP. In other respects, the Lyon government's commitment to "small government" was ambivalent—it was, for instance, highly supportive of large-scale energy-development projects. Roblin has argued that the Lyon government's right-wing reputation was undeserved, but few others have as yet agreed with this assessment.
Lyon was also an initial opponent of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's constitutional plans, and subsequently became a leading supporter of the notwithstanding clause provision. He also fought, unsuccessfully, to have property rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada.
Lyon's PCs lost government to the NDP, now led by Howard Pawley, in 1981, after only one term in office. The Tories lost 11 seats, almost as much as they had won four years earlier.
Post-premiership
Lyon acted as Leader of the Opposition for two years and fought Pawley's proposals to entrench the rights of Franco-Manitobans in the Constitution. In 1983, Lyon stepped down as Tory leader and was replaced by Gary Filmon. Lyon retired from politics when he did not run for re-election in the 1986 provincial election.
Post-political career
He was appointed to the Manitoba Court of Appeal in 1986. He served there until retiring in 2002. Sterling Lyon died on December 16, 2010, following a brief illness, at the age of 83.
Distinctions and awards
He was sworn into the Privy Council on April 17, 1982, by Governor General Edward Schreyer on the advice of Pierre Trudeau.
In 2004, Lyon was chosen as the University of Winnipeg's annual recipient of the "Distinguished Alumnus Award". In 2009, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for his contributions as a judge and long-time politician in Manitoba, where, as premier, he led the expansion of community-based health and social services, and modernized governmental financial procedures".
The Sterling Lyon Parkway in Winnipeg was completed and opened to traffic in November 2005. The route was added during the construction of the Kenaston Underpass. The Sterling Lyon Parkway, a new east–west road, has replaced a section of Wilkes Avenue near the underpass.
Legacy
Though his premiership was short, it's been argued that those years left an enduring legacy. An unsigned editorial in the Winnipeg Free Press argued:<blockquote>The other major pillar of Mr. Lyon's legacy – the inclusion of the notwithstanding clause in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as a defence of the supremacy of elected parliaments over unelected courts – was controversial when he first supported it and remains so today. He feared that provincial and federal parliaments would themselves cede their power to the courts to avoid controversial issues, a fear that has proved well founded.</blockquote>Sterling Lyon Parkway in Winnipeg was named in his honour.
References
- Call it meaningful, or call it mean, he believed in the right-wing rhetoric Obituary in The Globe and Mail, 26 January 2011