Canada’s first female agriculture minister was appointed March 12, 2001 by then Alberta premier Ralph Klein.
He named Shirley McClellan to the post just days before Manitoba named Rosann Wowchuk its ag minister, making Wowchuk the second woman to hold such a post in Canada.
McClellan had also served as Alberta’s associate agriculture minister from 1989 to 1992.
Her tenure as agriculture minister overlapped with the discovery of BSE in Alberta, leading to tumultuous times.
McClellan was a successful politician, running six times for the Alberta Conservative party and serving as MLA for Drumheller-Stettler.
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She sat in the legislature from Nov. 23, 1987 to Jan. 15, 2007, resigning the same day that Klein did.
Along the way the farmer from New Brigden, Alta., sat in many seats at the cabinet table, including deputy premier, minister of finance, minister of health, minister of community development and minister of international and intergovernmental relations.
At various times she was also the minister responsible for rural development, the Wild Rose Foundation,
the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission and the Seniors Advisory Council for Alberta.
She is interested in education and was a director for the Alberta and Canadian Associations of Continuing Education.
Since leaving office, McClellan has continued to serve the public, being appointed this year as distinguished scholar in residence with the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry, and Home Economics and the School of Business.
“I am pleased to be contributing to the University of Alberta by sharing my own experience with students,” McClellan said in a News release
news.
“To enhance their education with what I have learned during my years in government service, as a rural Albertan and as a proud citizen of this province, is something I find very rewarding.”
At the university, McClellan delivers lectures to undergraduate and graduate students on government decision-making and research strategies for rural development and business.
She also advises on eCampus Alberta initiatives, through which the province’s post-secondary institutions work together to find new ways for rural Albertans to access degree-granting programs. McClellan’s appointment runs to Aug. 31, 2010.
