Jim Prentice

He was the son of Wilma Lyle Marea (Mawhiney) and Eric Prentice, a professional hockey player who played five games in the National Hockey League (NHL) in the 1940s.

His uncle Dean Prentice played in the NHL for more than 20 years.

Prentice was educated at the University of Alberta (where he became a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity ) and Dalhousie University.

He paid for his tuition by working as a coal miner in the summer months for seven years.

As a lawyer, he served as a Law Commissioner of the Indian Claims Commission of Canada.

In his personal life, Prentice served for seven years on the Board of Directors at the Calgary Winter Club, including stints as president and Chairman.

He was an active member and volunteer leader in the Grace Presbyterian Church.

Prentice and his wife Karen have three daughters and two grandchildren.

He was also a member of the Trilateral Commission, a non-partisan organization that aims to increase cooperation within the developed world.

In this capacity, Prentice was one of 20 Canadian members.

Peter Eric James Prentice (July 20, 1956 – October 13, 2016) was a Canadian politician who served as the 16th premier of Alberta from 2014 to 2015.

The family then moved to Alberta in 1969.

Prentice joined the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 1976, and was active in Tory circles ever since.

In the 1986 provincial election, Prentice ran for the Progressive Conservatives in Calgary Mountain View, being defeated by NDP candidate Bob Hawkesworth.

During the early 1990s, Prentice served as the governing federal PC party's chief financial officer and treasurer (1990–93).

Prentice first ran for Parliament as the nominated Progressive Conservative candidate in a spring 2002 by-election in the riding of Calgary Southwest that followed the retirement of Preston Manning as the riding's Member of Parliament (MP).

When newly elected Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper replaced nominated CA candidate Ezra Levant in the by-election, Prentice withdrew from the race, following common practice to allow a party leader to win a seat uncontested so they may lead their party within Parliament.

He ran in the 2003 Progressive Conservative leadership election to support the "United Alternative" proposal to merge the PC party with the Canadian Alliance.

He was seen by many as an alternative to the "status quo" candidate and front runner Peter MacKay.

A basic platform of Prentice's campaign was that "no one has ever defeated the Liberals with a divided conservative family."

Prentice entered the 2003 convention day with some momentum, after delivering a passionate speech to the assembled delegates that encouraged Tories to be proud of their accomplishments, despite recent setbacks, and that recalled the sacrifices of Canadian soldiers who fought in the Battle of Passchendaele.

He also unexpectedly received the support of fellow leadership challenger Craig Chandler, who withdrew early.

Prentice ultimately emerged in second-place on the fourth ballot to the eventual winner MacKay.

Consistent with his positions during the leadership race, Prentice was a supporter of the merger endorsed by both the CA and PC parties in December 2003 that formed the new Conservative Party of Canada.

Prentice was the first declared candidate for the leadership of the new Conservative Party, announcing his run on December 7, 2003, the day after the new party was ratified by members of the PC Party.

In the 2004 federal election he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada as a candidate of the Conservative Party of Canada.

He was re-elected in the 2006 federal election and appointed to the cabinet as Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians.

Prentice was appointed Minister of Industry on August 14, 2007, and after the 2008 election became Minister of Environment on October 30, 2008.

On November 4, 2010, Prentice announced his resignation from cabinet and as MP for Calgary Centre-North.

After retiring from federal politics he entered the private sector as vice-chairman of CIBC.

Prentice entered provincial politics in his home province of Alberta, and ran for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta to replace Dave Hancock, who was serving as interim Premier and party leader after Alison Redford's resignation.

On September 6, 2014, Prentice won the leadership election, becoming both the leader of the Progressive Conservatives and as such the Premier, as his party held a majority in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.

As Premier of Alberta, Prentice formed a new cabinet consisting of some members from the previous government, but also new Ministers including two who did not hold seats in the Legislature—Stephen Mandel and Gordon Dirks.

All three stood as candidates in by-elections scheduled for October 27, 2014, and all three were elected with Prentice becoming the MLA for Calgary-Foothills.

After introducing his first budget in 2015, Prentice declared an early provincial election on May 5, 2015.

In the election, Prentice's PCs suffered an unprecedented defeat, dropping to third place in the legislature with just 10 seats – ending 44 years of Tory rule in Alberta, the longest consecutive reign for any political party at the provincial level in Canada.

Despite winning re-election in Calgary-Foothills, on election night Prentice resigned as both PC leader and MLA and retired from politics after results indicated that the Alberta NDP had won a majority government.

On October 13, 2016, Prentice and three others were killed when the aircraft in which they were travelling crashed shortly after taking off from Kelowna, British Columbia.

The flight was en route from Kelowna to Springbank Airport, just outside Calgary.

Prentice was born to a large, blue-collar family in South Porcupine, near Timmins, Ontario.