|
Elmer S. Knutson was born on the family farm in Torquay, Saskatchewan. He worked on road gangs, in lumber camps and mines until he won a baseball scholarship to a Lutheran college in North Dakota. After serving in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II, he opened a garage in Saskatoon. He later moved to Edmonton to form his own tractor parts company. In 1969 he established Derrick Dodge Chrysler and ran it until 1976.
With the advent of the National Energy Program in 1980, he formed the Western Canada Federation (West-Fed), a non-partisan organization to fight the Ottawa Liberals. With the emergence of the Victoria-based Western Canada Concept (WCC) party, most West-Fed members joined the WCC. He was quoted as saying, "I've asked many times what the hell the WCC is and they can't tell me."
In 1984, after being defeated in his 1983 attempt to win the leadership of the Social Credit Party of Canada he founded the Confederation of Regions Party to advocate a new Canadian constitution with more regional autonomy. He stepped down as leader a little more than a year later, saying, "If I can't get my message across, I had better give up trying."
He tried his hand at provincial politics in two by-elections, only to be defeated both times.
Knutson died at the age of 86 in Edmonton.
| 
