Bud Olson was first elected to the
House of Commons of Canada in the
1957 election as a
Social Credit Member of Parliament (MP) from
Medicine Hat. He was defeated in the
Diefenbaker Progressive Conservatives'
sweep of 1958, but re-elected in
1962,
1963, and
1965. With the Social Credit Party's English Canadian wing rapidly disintegrating, Olson crossed the floor in 1967 to join the
Liberal Party. Olson supported
Pierre Trudeau's successful candidacy for the
Liberal leadership in 1968, narrowly won re-election as an MP in
1968 and became
minister of agriculture in the first Trudeau government. Olson served in that position until he was heavily defeated by PC challenger
Bert Hargrave in the
1972 general election. He was one of only four Liberal MPs elected from Alberta in 1968; all were defeated in 1972. To date, Olson is the last Liberal elected from a rural Alberta riding. Olson sought a rematch against Hargrave in
1974, but lost by a margin almost as large as he had in 1972. In 1977, Trudeau appointed him to the
Senate of Canada. Olson served as
leader of the opposition in the Senate in 1979, and returned to
Cabinet when the Trudeau Liberals returned to power in
1980. He served as Minister of Economic and Regional Development from 1980 to 1984, as well as
Leader of the Government in the Senate. As one of Trudeau's most powerful ministers, he chaired the cabinet committee on economic development from 1980 to 1983. He was also the minister responsible for the
Northern Pipeline Agency from 1980 to 1984, and the government leader in the Senate from 1982 to 1984. It was also Olson's job to promote the government's unpopular
National Energy Program in Alberta. ==Late life==