Preceded by Ralph Sorenson Preceded by Hugh Horner Succeeded by Shirley McClellan Constituency Chinook Died September 17, 1987 | Preceded by New District Role Politician Name Henry Kroeger | |
Born March 28, 1917
Moscow, Russia ( 1917-03-28 ) Political party Progressive Conservative Party Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta | ||
Constituency Sedgewick-Coronation | ||
Henry Kroeger (March 28, 1917 – September 17, 1987) was a provincial level politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 1975 until his death in 1987. During his time in office he served as Minister of Transportation in the Peter Lougheed government from 1979 to 1982.
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Personal life
Henry Kroeger was born in Moscow, Russia, the son of Helena (Rempel) and Heinrich Kroeger. His family was Mennonite, of German descent. He moved to Canada at the age of nine to escape the Russian Revolution.
His grandson is musician Chad Kroeger, of the band Nickelback.
Political career
Kroger ran for a seat to the Alberta Legislature for the first time in the 1959 Alberta general election. He ran as a Liberal candidate in the electoral district of Stettler and was defeated by Galen Norris finishing third.
He made another attempt to run for office by running for the Progressive Conservatives in the 1975 Alberta general election. He won the electoral district of Sedgewick-Coronation defeating incumbent Ralph Sorenson in a closely contested race. Kroger became the provinces 500th MLA to be sworn in.
The Sedgewick-Coronation electoral district was abolished for the 1979 Alberta general election. Kroeger ran in the new Chinook electoral district. He was re-elected with a large majority defeating three other candidates. After the electoral Premier Peter Lougheed appointed Kroeger to serve in the Executive Council of Alberta as the Minister of Transportation. When he was minister of Transportation he pushed to have Alberta Highway 16 twinned.
Kroeger ran for his third term in office in the 1982 Alberta general election. He defeated future Member of Parliament Jack Ramsay to retain his seat. Kroeger was not invited back into cabinet after the election and served the rest of his career in the back benches. He chaired the Alberta Water Resources Commission (AWRC) from its inception in 198(?) until shortly before his death. During that time the AWRC conducted public hearings on the South Saskatchewan River Basin Planning Program which was the pre-amble to the development of the Water Act (proclaimed in 1999). He ran for his final term in the 1986 Alberta general election. He won a straight fight against New Democrat candidate Lavera Creasy who he had faced in 1982. Kroeger died a year later in 1987.
Honours
Henry Kroeger was posthumously inducted in the Alberta Agriculture Hall of Fame in March 1988 for his life's work of water management and development in the dry prairie regions of southern Alberta.
After his induction the Government of Alberta named the Water Services Commission that Kroeger was directly involved with in his honor. The Commission was named the Henry Kroeger Regional Water Services Commission. A water treatment plant in the community of Hanna, Alberta was also named in his honor.