Constituency renamed ; Region: Grant Notley recognized

A campaign to rename the Dunvegan-Central Peace pro-vincial

riding to Dunvegan Central Peace-Notley was suc-cessful Tuesday.

The change was made to recognize long-time area MLA Grant Notley,

elected leader of the Alberta NDP in 1968 and who won the

legislative seat then known as Spirit River-Fairview in 1971.

For 11 years he was the sole NDP MLA in the Legislature.

Notley became the leader of the Official Opposition in 1982, but on

Oct. 19, 1984, he and five others were killed in a plane crash near

High Prairie.

"I think he would have been incredibly honoured by that recognition

on the part of leg-islators from across all politi-cal perspectives

within the assembly," said Rachel Notley, 43, Grant's daughter and a

cur-rent Edmonton-area MLA, who grew up in Fairview.

She said sev-eral NDP con-stituency asso-ciations put forward the

name change recommenda-tion to the Elec-toral Boundar-ies

Commis-sion but it was rejected.

It was only after independent MLA Dave Taylor proposed an amendment

to changes approved by the EBC was the issue put to rest when the

vote cut across all political lines.

"I think it was a vote of respect for him, of his role as a

parliamentarian and I think there is also some recognition,

certainly from our point of view, that my father's role con-tinues

to be as serving as a bit of an icon for people who are looking for

a strong opposition voice and a well-thought-out political debate

within our province," Rachel said.

She said that after the com-mission rejected the earlier

recommendation, she was not expecting the name change quite so soon.

"It's an honour on behalf of my whole family and an honour to the

memory of my father and I'm pleased from that perspective,

absolutely," she said.

The renaming will not only serve to honour her father, she said,

but also maintain his legacy as a strong, vocal advo-cate for the

silent minority.

"One of the reasons my father's reputation lives on is because he

really was per-ceived as one of the most cred-ible voices within the

oppo-sition throughout the history of the almost 40 years of Tory

rule," she said.

"And so even people who aren't necessarily New Dem-ocrats respect

what his voice represented in terms of sort of encapsulating the

concerns of Albertans who are not Progres-sive Conservatives."

[email protected]

CREDIT: REMO ZACCAGNA, HERALD-TRIBUNE STAFF