Memorable Manitobans: Harvey Norman Murray Patterson (1924-2014)

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Harvey Norman Murray Patterson
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Labour leader, MLA (1973-1975).

Born on the family farm in the RM of Roland on 12 September 1924, one of five children born to Norman C. Patterson (?-1988) and Isabell Baker (?-1966), he left school after grade 8 to work on the farm. During the Second World War, he served in the Canadian Army (1943-1945). While recovering from a shrapnel wound, he met and married Margaret Plunkett Black (?-2001) at Edinburgh, Scotland. They returned to Canada where he worked on farms in the Morden area. They later moved to Winnipeg where he drove a truck.

He became involved in the city’s labour community, serving as President of the Winnipeg Labour Council in the early 1970s, Chairman of the Manitoba Panel on Labour Relations (1970), and Chairman of the Manitoba Panel on Human Rights and Consumer Affairs (1971). In the 1973 general election, he was elected to the Manitoba Legislature in a close race with Lawrie Pollard, representing the Crescentwood constituency, and served until his election was voided by an investigation into the ballot-counting process. He was defeated by Warren Steen in a 1975 by-election. In 1978, he became the Executive Secretary of the Winnipeg Labour Council, retiring in the mid-1980s. In recognition of his community service, he was inducted into the Manitoba Order of the Buffalo Hunt (1985).

He died at Winnipeg on 8 April 2014.

Sources:

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 12 April 2014, page B16.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 18 November 2023

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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