View source for Ron Basford

{{Short description|Canadian politician}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{more citations needed|date=November 2007}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| name = Ron Basford
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|size=100%}}
| image =  Ron Basford.png
| caption = Official 1974 portrait
| birth_name = Stanley Ronald Basford
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1932|04|22}}
| birth_place = [[Winnipeg]], [[Manitoba]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2005|01|31|1932|04|22}}
| death_place = 
| nationality = Canadian
| other_names = 
| occupation = 
| years_active = 
| known_for = 
| notable_works = }}
'''Stanley Ronald Basford''' {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|PC}} (April 22, 1932 – January 31, 2005) was a Canadian politician and lawyer who was a long-time [[Cabinet of Canada|cabinet minister]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20050202/granville02m/ron-basford-72-served-in-canadian-cabinet|title = Ron Basford, 72, served in Canadian Cabinet}}</ref> in the [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] government of [[Pierre Trudeau]].<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/former-b-c-cabinet-minister-ron-basford-dies-1.564205| url-status = live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080201115633/http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2005/02/01/basford050201.html| archive-date = 2008-02-01| title = Former B.C. cabinet minister Ron Basford dies}}</ref> Based in [[British Columbia]], he was known as "Mr. Granville Island"<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://granvilleislandworks.com/about/history-of-granville-island|title = History of Granville Island – Granville Island}}</ref> for his support of the [[Granville Island]] redevelopment project in [[Vancouver]].<ref>[http://granvilleisland.com/sites/all/files/Granville%20Island-%20From%20Sandbar%20to%20Raising%20the%20Bar.pdf Granville Island] granvilleisland.com {{dead link|date=April 2024}}</ref>

Basford was first elected to the [[House of Commons of Canada]] in the [[1963 Canadian federal election]] as a member of the [[Liberal Party of Canada]], representing the district of [[Vancouver Centre]]. After winning re-election in [[1968 Canadian federal election|1968]], he held several cabinet positions over the next decade under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, including [[Minister of National Revenue (Canada)|Minister of National Revenue]] from 1974 to 1975 and [[Minister of Justice (Canada)|Minister of Justice and Attorney General]] from 1975 until his retirement from the Cabinet in 1978. He did not seek reelection in the [[1979 Canadian federal election]] and resumed his law career.

==Early life and education==
Born in [[Winnipeg]], [[Manitoba]] Basford moved with his mother to [[Comox, British Columbia]], following the death of his father, where he completed his last three years of high school. He then attended the [[University of British Columbia]], earning a law degree in 1956. Following his period of Articles, he was admitted to the Bar, and practised law for the next six years.

Basford had become interested in politics in his early teenage years and was very active in the Liberal Party while at university. He was nominated as the [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] candidate in [[Vancouver—Burrard (federal electoral district)|Vancouver—Burrard]] in March 1962 and contested the election in June of that year, losing by 94 votes.
[[File:RonBasfordParkPlaque.jpg|thumb|Plaque describing namesake of Ron Basford Park]]
==Political career==
Basford was first elected to the [[House of Commons of Canada]] as the Liberal [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|member of Parliament]] for [[Vancouver—Burrard (federal electoral district)|Vancouver—Burrard]] in the [[1963 Canadian federal election|1963 election]] and was re-elected in the [[1965 Canadian federal election|1965 election]]. From 1968 to 1979, he represented the [[electoral district (Canada)|riding]] of [[Vancouver Centre]].

In 1968, Trudeau brought Basford into Cabinet as [[Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs (Canada)|Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs]]. He subsequently served as [[Minister of State (Canada)|Minister of State]] for Urban Affairs (1972–1974), [[Minister of National Revenue (Canada)|Minister of National Revenue]] (1974–1975), and [[Minister of Justice (Canada)|Minister of Justice]] and Attorney General of Canada (1975–1978).

As Vancouver's leading cabinet minister, Basford is credited with helping to scuttle plans for an [[Controlled-access highway|expressway]] along the city's waterfront that would have levelled the [[Gastown]] and [[Chinatown, Vancouver|Chinatown]] neighbourhoods, for encouraging local planning and neighbourhood improvement, and for helping win federal support for the construction of thousands of units of co-operative housing in the city.

As Consumer and Corporate Affairs minister, Basford shepherded the passage of legislation that dramatically reduced pharmaceutical prices. This gave Canada the lowest drug prices in the industrialized world into the late 1980s when the legislation was repealed by the [[Brian Mulroney|Mulroney]] government. Basford also had passed into law the ''Hazardous Products Act'' that eliminated flammable children's bedding and clothing from the market. His most controversial move, at the time, was the adoption of the [[SI]] (metric) system as Canada's official standard of weights and measures. This provoked strong opposition from many Canadians but has since been accepted.

During his 30 months as Minister of State for Urban Affairs, Basford led the new Ministry into the uncharted waters of Federal/Provincial/Municipal consultation and cooperation through the development of Tri Level Conferences and working groups, improving the relationships among Canada's three levels of government. At the same time, he sponsored a complete revision of the National Housing Act, which initiated an era of wider programs of social housing and financial aid to municipalities through the Neighbourhood Improvement Program and the Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program.

As Justice minister, Basford arranged a [[clemency]] agreement that kept [[abortion]] rights campaigner and practitioner [[Henry Morgentaler]] out of jail. He was also Justice minister in 1976 when Canada abolished [[capital punishment]], and when the ''[[Canadian Human Rights Act]]'' was amended to require [[equal pay for equal work]] regardless of gender.

Basford retired from cabinet in 1978, as the longest-serving minister from BC since Confederation, and did not run in the [[1979 Canadian federal election|1979 election]]. He practised law with the Vancouver law firm of Davis and Company, and was named coordinator by the governments of BC and Canada of the complex Northeast Coal Development in 1982.

[[File:RonBasfordParkHILL.jpg|thumb|Hill in centre of Ron Basford Park, [[Granville Island]]]] Ron Basford Park at Granville Island is named after him.

== Electoral history ==
{{1974 Canadian federal election/Vancouver Centre}}
{{1972 Canadian federal election/Vancouver Centre}}
{{1968 Canadian federal election/Vancouver Centre}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Canadian Parliament links|ID=6038}}

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{{succession box|title=[[Vancouver—Burrard (federal electoral district)|Member of Parliament for Vancouver—Burrard]]
|before=[[Thomas Berger (Canadian politician)|Thomas Berger]]
|after=Last member, riding abolished in 1966
|years=1963–1968}}
{{succession box|title=[[Vancouver Centre|Member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre]]
|before=[[Jack R. Nicholson]]
|after=[[Art Phillips]]
|years=1968–1979}}
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{{succession box
|before=[[John Turner]]
|title=[[Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs]]
|years=1968–1972
|after=[[Bob Andras]]
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{{succession box
|before=[[Robert Stanbury]]
|title=[[Minister of National Revenue (Canada)|Minister of National Revenue]]
|years=1974–1975
|after=[[Bud Cullen]]
}}
{{succession box
|before=[[Otto Lang]]
|title=[[Minister of Justice (Canada)|Minister of Justice]]
|years=1975–1978
|after=[[Otto Lang]]
}}
{{succession box
|before=[[Francis Fox]]
|title=[[Solicitor General of Canada]]
|years=1978
|after=[[Jean-Jacques Blais]]
}}
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{{CA-Ministers of Justice and Attorneys General}}
{{CA-Ministers of National Revenue}}
{{CA-Solicitors General of Canada}}
{{First Trudeau Ministry}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basford, Ron}}
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:2005 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs]]
[[Category:Members of the 20th Canadian Ministry]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia]]
[[Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada]]
[[Category:Politicians from Winnipeg]]
[[Category:Solicitors general of Canada]]