Stanley Schumacher

Stanley Schumacher QC
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament for Palliser
In office 1968–1979
Succeeded by	Gordon Taylor
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
In office 12 June 1986 – 11 February 1997
Parliamentary group	Progressive Conservative
Constituency	Drumheller
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
In office 1993–1997
Preceded by	David J. Carter
Succeeded by	Ken Kowalski
Personal details
Born	(1933-06-12)June 12, 1933 Hanna, Alberta, Canada
Died	October 10, 2020(2020-10-10) (aged 87)
Political party	Progressive Conservative
Spouse	Virginia Schumacher
Residence(s)	Drumheller, Alberta, Canada
Profession	Barrister, lawyer

Stanley Stanford Schumacher QC (June 12, 1933 – October 10, 2020) was a politician from Alberta, Canada. He was speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and a member of the House of Commons of Canada.

Early life

He was born in Hanna, Alberta to parents Louis and Gladys Schumacher. In 1968, he married Virginia Brodie, with whom he had two children, Sandra and David.

He attended school in Dorothy and Drumheller, Alberta, and went on to the University of British Columbia, where he received his Law Degree. He returned to Drumheller where he practised law.

Federal political career

Schumacher first ran for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in the 1968 federal election, and was elected to represent Palliser in Alberta. He would serve three terms in the House of Commons.

As a result of redistribution before the 1979 federal election, the district of Palliser was abolished. Schumacher intended to seek his party's nomination in the new riding of Bow River, which included much of his old district, but was asked by party officials to step aside in favour of leader Joe Clark, whose own riding of Rocky Mountain had also been abolished. Although Tory officials offered him the nomination in another riding, Schumacher refused to stand down, forcing Clark to run in Yellowhead. In Bow River, Schumacher was challenged for the nomination by former Socred Gordon Taylor and lost in a controversial meeting in which Schumacher's supporters alleged that people who were not bona fide members of the party voted. Schumacher's former assistant, John Aimers, resigned from the party in January 1978 in protest, accusing the national executive of engineering Schumacher's defeat.

On February 28, 1978 Schumacher left the party and sat as an independent. In the election the following year, he ran in Bow River against Taylor and was defeated.

Provincial political career

In the 1986 Alberta general election Schumacher ran for the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta in Drumheller. He was elected and was soon appointed Deputy Speaker, a position he held until 1993. He then became Speaker of the Legislative Assembly after the retirement of David Carter. He retired from the Assembly after dissolution in 1997.

Late life

After his career in the provincial legislature he served on the Alberta Surface Rights and Land Compensation boards where he eventually became Chairman.

In November 2012, Schumacher received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition for his public service contributions to Albertans and Canadians over the past 45+ years. Earlier he had received the Silver and Golden Jubilee Medals.

He was practicing law with Schumacher, Gough, and Company and resided with his wife Virginia in Drumheller.

Schumacher died October 10, 2020 aged 87.

External links

• Stanley Schumacher – Parliament of Canada biography