Bud Olson

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Canadian politician (1925–2002)

title: "Bud Olson" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["lieutenant-governors-of-alberta", "liberal-party-of-canada-mps", "liberal-party-of-canada-senators", "canadian-senators-from-alberta", "members-of-the-house-of-commons-of-canada-from-alberta", "members-of-the-king's-privy-council-for-canada", "social-credit-party-of-canada-mps", "canadian-lutherans", "alberta-liberal-party-candidates-in-alberta-provincial-elections", "1925-births", "2002-deaths", "members-of-the-alberta-order-of-excellence", "20th-century-lutherans", "20th-century-members-of-the-house-of-commons-of-canada", "20th-century-members-of-the-senate-of-canada"] description: "Canadian politician (1925–2002)" topic_path: "politics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bud_Olson" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Canadian politician (1925–2002) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
honorific-prefix	The Honourable
name	Bud Olson
image	Horace Andrew Olson.jpg
honorific-suffix
caption	Olson
birth_name	Horace Andrew Olson
birth_date	October 6, 1925
birth_place	Iddesleigh, Alberta
death_date
death_place	Medicine Hat, Alberta
term_start	April 17, 1996
term_end	February 10, 2000
predecessor	Gordon Towers
successor	Lois Hole
monarch	Elizabeth II
governor_general	Roméo LeBlanc
Adrienne Clarkson
premier	Ralph Klein
office	14th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta
constituency_MP1	Medicine Hat
parliament1	Canadian
term_start1	June 10, 1957
term_end1	March 31, 1958
predecessor1	William Duncan Wylie
successor1	Edwin William Brunsden
term_start2	June 18, 1962
term_end2	October 30, 1972
predecessor2	Edwin William Brunsden
successor2	Bert Hargrave
office3	Minister of Agriculture
primeminister3	Pierre Trudeau
predecessor3	Joe Greene
successor3	Eugene Whelan
term_start3	6 July 1968
term_end3	26 November 1972
office4	Senator for Alberta South, Alberta
term_start4	April 5, 1977
term_end4	March 7, 1996
appointed4	Pierre Trudeau
party	Liberal (from 1967)
Social Credit (until 1967)
spouse
children	4
occupation	farmer, rancher and businessman
::

Horace Andrew "Bud" Olson (October 6, 1925 – February 14, 2002) was a Canadian businessman and politician from Alberta. He served as the 14th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta from 1996 to 2000. He also served as a Member of Parliament, Senator, Minister of Agriculture, and Minister of Economic and Regional Development. He was also a farmer and rancher, and president and operating officer of Farmer's Stockmen's Supplies in Medicine Hat and Lethbridge, Alberta.

Early life

Born in Iddesleigh, Alberta on October 6, 1925. On January 27, 1947, he married Marion Lucille McLachlan. They had four children: Sharon Lee, Andrea Lucille, Juanita Carol and Horace Andrew Jr.

Federal politics

Bud Olson was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1957 election as a Social Credit Member of Parliament (MP) from Medicine Hat. He was defeated in the Diefenbaker Progressive Conservatives' sweep of 1958, but re-elected in 1962, 1963, and 1965.

With the Social Credit Party's English Canadian wing rapidly disintegrating, Olson crossed the floor in 1967 to join the Liberal Party. Olson supported Pierre Trudeau's successful candidacy for the Liberal leadership in 1968, narrowly won re-election as an MP in 1968 and became minister of agriculture in the first Trudeau government. Olson served in that position until he was heavily defeated by PC challenger Bert Hargrave in the 1972 general election. He was one of only four Liberal MPs elected from Alberta in 1968; all were defeated in 1972. To date, Olson is the last Liberal elected from a rural Alberta riding.

Olson sought a rematch against Hargrave in 1974, but lost by a margin almost as large as he had in 1972. In 1977, Trudeau appointed him to the Senate of Canada. Olson served as leader of the opposition in the Senate in 1979, and returned to Cabinet when the Trudeau Liberals returned to power in 1980.

He served as Minister of Economic and Regional Development from 1980 to 1984, as well as Leader of the Government in the Senate. As one of Trudeau's most powerful ministers, he chaired the cabinet committee on economic development from 1980 to 1983. He was also the minister responsible for the Northern Pipeline Agency from 1980 to 1984, and the government leader in the Senate from 1982 to 1984. It was also Olson's job to promote the government's unpopular National Energy Program in Alberta.

Late life

Olson resigned from the Senate when he was appointed Alberta's 14th Lieutenant-Governor in April 1996. He served in that position until 2000.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/CAPS_LG_Security_Blazer_Patch.jpg" caption="CAPS constables]] blazers when providing security for LG"] ::

Bud Olson died in Medicine Hat in 2002.

Arms

|image = |notes = |year_adopted = January 26, 1998 |crest = A demi lion per fess Gules and Azure wearing a coronet Argent the upper rim set with wild rose flowers proper holding in the dexter paw a rattlesnake Or |escutcheon = Per fess Azure and Or in chief the maces of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada in saltire ensigned by a coronet érablé Or in base four cattle heads affronty one two and one Gules |supporters = 2 pronghorn antelopes Or and Argent branded on the flank " — Z — " Gules charged on the breast with a cross Moline Azure |compartment = A mound of Prairie grassland proper |motto = TO STRIVE TO SERVE |orders = The ribbon and insignia of a Companion of the Order of Canada. DESIDERANTES MELIOREM PATRIAM (They desire a better country)

References

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::