Jack Ramsay

Jack Ramsay, a Reform Party MP for Crowfoot in Alberta and former RCMP officer, was suspended from the Reform caucus in November 1999 following criminal charges and personal conduct issues. Ramsay had been one of the more outspoken Reform MPs on justice and crime issues, drawing on his RCMP background. He sat first as an Independent Canadian Alliance member (after the Reform-Alliance transition in March 2000) and then as a full Independent from June 2000. His case illustrated the challenges the Reform/Alliance parties faced in maintaining caucus discipline among their diverse cohort of western populist MPs.

Ramsay did not seek re-election in the November 2000 election. His departure was made under a cloud of personal controversy that overshadowed whatever policy contributions he had made as an MP. The Crowfoot riding was won by the Canadian Alliance in 2000, continuing the pattern of safe Conservative/Reform seats in rural Alberta that had existed since the Reform Party's rise in 1993.