Preston Manning will be awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, at the 9:30 a.m. ceremony on Wednesday, June 10 “in recognition of exemplary and thoughtful leadership in strengthening democracy in Canada.”
Preston Manning is the president of the Manning Centre for Building Democracy, which he founded in 2005. As a University of Alberta graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in economics, Mr. Manning spent 20 years providing consulting services to the energy industry before entering politics.
From 1993 to 2001, he served as a Member of Parliament. He formed two new political parties, the Reform Party of Canada and the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance, both of which became the official Opposition and laid the foundation for the new Conservative Party of Canada. He also served as Opposition leader from 1997 to 2000.
Mr. Manning became a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2007 and was appointed to the Privy Council in 2013. In addition to authoring two books and numerous articles, he continues to share his expertise with Canadian universities. Currently, he is a Senior Fellow of the Fraser Institute and the Marketplace Institute at Regent College, at the University of British Columbia.
He holds honorary degrees from the University of Calgary, University of Alberta, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, Tyndale University College, York University, and the University of Toronto.