Lee Richardson (politician)

Lee Richardson (born October 31, 1947) is a Canadian businessman and politician. He served as the member of Parliament for the riding of Calgary Southeast from 1988 to 1993 as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and for Calgary Centre from 2004 to 2012. He resigned from the House of Commons in 2012 to accept an appointment as principal secretary to the Premier of Alberta.

Education
Richardson was born in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. He was educated at the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta. He also attended Oxford University in England.

Personal life
Richardson married Susanne Reece in 1971 and they had three children. Susanne died from cancer in 1998.

Early career
Richardson first entered federal politics serving on Parliament Hill as Executive Assistant to former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker from 1972 to 1974.

From 1974 to 1983 he served successively as Executive Assistant, Director of the Office of the Premier and Chief of Staff to Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed.

In 1983 Richardson returned to Ottawa to serve as Deputy Chief of Staff to the newly elected Progressive Conservative leader and Leader of the Opposition Brian Mulroney.

After the 1984 federal election, Richardson served as Prime Minister Mulroney's Deputy Chief of Staff and Special Advisor on Western Affairs. Richardson remained in the Prime Minister's Office until he ran in the 1988 general election in the federal riding of Calgary Southeast. Richardson won with 62.67% of the vote. Richardson's candidacy was the first political endorsement of Peter Lougheed following his retirement.

Richardson served on the board of directors for the Calgary Olympic Organizing Committee of the 1988 Winter Olympics.

In his first term as a parliamentarian, Richardson served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Communications and the Minister of Transport. He was instrumental in relocating the National Energy Board to Calgary and placing the Calgary International Airport under local authority. Richardson was defeated in the 1993 federal election by Jan Brown, a Reform Party candidate. He returned to Calgary in 1993 to form Lee Richardson Financial Corporation.

Return to federal politics
Richardson returned to federal politics in 2004, winning the election in the electoral district of Calgary Centre which had previously been held by PC Leader Joe Clark. He was re-elected in 2006, capturing 55.4% of the vote, in 2008 with 55.6% of the vote, and in 2011 with 57.7% of the vote.

Among his parliamentary duties, Richardson first served on the Environment Committee where he became the only Conservative to win the Sierra Club's "Green Parliamentarian" award.

Richardson was appointed Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Natural Resources in 2006.

From 2007 until 2011, Richardson served as the Chair of the International Trade Committee. According to the Montreal Gazette, "the International Trade Committee, under the genial chair of Conservative Lee Richardson, is a collegial exception to the toxic tone of most House committees."

The International Trade Committee under Richardson chairmanship successfully vetted three free trade agreements. The committee went clause by clause through and referred back to the House the following trade agreements; Bill C-2: An Act to implement the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the Republic of Colombia, the Agreement on the Environment between Canada and the Republic of Colombia and the Agreement on Labour Cooperation between Canada and the Republic of Colombia (Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act), Bill C-8: An Act to implement the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Agreement on the Environment between Canada and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Agreement on Labour Cooperation between Canada and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Canada-Jordan Free Trade Act) and Bill C-46: An Act to implement the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the Republic of Panama, the Agreement on the Environment between Canada and the Republic of Panama and the Agreement on Labour Cooperation between Canada and the Republic of Panama (Canada-Panama Free Trade Act).

After the 2011 federal election, Richardson was one of eight members of Parliament who put their name forward to be the Speaker of the House of Commons. Richardson lasted to the fifth round and placed third.

Resignation
On May 30, 2012, Richardson resigned from Parliament to accept an appointment as principal secretary to the Premier of Alberta. In his farewell speech he remarked to his colleagues that: "While we advocate for different ideas of Canada, we are all Canadians and we all love our country. We would all, I think, do well to remember that and leave the partisan furies at the water's edge."

Ian MacDonald from the Montreal Gazette remarked that: "while leaders of all parties joined in personal tributes to Richardson, about 200 MPs lined up to shake his hand as he stood at his front-row seat by the door at the far end of the House. It was a good half-hour before he could leave the House. In four decades of attending the House, I’ve never seen anything quite like it."

Similar sentiments were brought forward from the media noting Richardson's ability to be impartial to all sides in the House of Commons and in his riding office where he was willing to help all Calgarians.

Community involvement
Richardson served the Board of Southminster United Church; and continues to serve as a board member of the Calgary Homeless Foundation.

He was Chair of the Advisory Board to the University of Calgary Institute for the Humanities and was on the faculty of the Banff Centre School of Management for ten years.

Richardson currently is on the Calgary Stampede Board of Directors and is a Calgary Flames Ambassador.

Awards and recognition
Richardson received the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977 "in recognition of significant contribution to compatriots, community and to Canada", the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal in 1992, the Alberta Centennial Medal in 2005 "in recognition of outstanding service to the people and province of Alberta", and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012 in recognition of his "contributions to Canada".

Calgary South Centre
Results based on redistributed results. Conservative Party change is compared to a combination of Progressive Conservative Party and Canadian Alliance totals.