MACOUN - Len Gustafson, the Macoun-area resident who spent nearly 30 years as a member of Parliament and a senator, died on Friday. He was 88.
Gustafson was a farmer, a contractor and businessman before he was ventured into the world of politics.
He was elected as an MP for the first time in the 1979 federal election for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in the riding of Assiniboia. He received 12,365 votes, about 1,200 more than Bill Knight of the New Democratic Party, and approximately 2,400 more than the incumbent MP, Ralph Goodale of the Liberal Party.
He was subsequently re-elected in the 1980, 1984 and 1988 elections. The 1988 election was the first for the newly-formed riding of Souris-Moose Mountain, which incorporated much of the old Assiniboia riding.
Gustafson served as parliamentary secretary to former prime minister Brian Mulroney from 1984 until shortly before Mulroney left office in 1993. Mulroney appointed Gustafson to the Senate in May 1993, and Gustafson sat as a Progressive Conservative and later as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada.
He retired from the Senate upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75 on Nov. 10, 2008. On Jan. 8, 2009, it was announced that Gustafson was appointed to the Privy Council on the advice of then-prime minister Stephen Harper.
Tributes have been flowing in for Gustafson on social media from his family and many friends. Souris-Moose Mountain MP Robert Kitchen recognized Gustafson in the House of Commons on Monday.
“Len was born in, and loved, Macoun, Saskatchewan,” Kitchen said.
Throughout his life, Gustafson was a lot of things, but Kitchen said, most importantly, Gustafson was a farmer.
“Thank you, Len, for your service to the people of Souris-Moose Mountain, and to Canada. Your legacy will not be forgotten,” Kitchen said.
A funeral service will be held on March 25 at the Macoun Evangelical Missionary Church, starting at 2 p.m. There will be a live stream of the service through the church’s Facebook page. A lunch will be served afterwards at the fellowship hall.
There will be a private graveside service for the family after the public service.
This week’s edition of the Mercury will have more on this story.
