Jack Flaherty, the congenial retired St. Albert schoolteacher, school superintendent, and senior civil servant recruited to run by the Alberta Liberals in 2004, scoring an upset victory at 72 years of age over the Tory incumbent, died in Calgary on Sept. 24. He was 91.
On election night 2004, Mr. Flaherty edged out two-term Progressive Conservative MLA Mary O’Neill by 414 votes. As MLA, he served as the Opposition Liberals’ education critic until the 2008 election.
Kevin Taft, who had become Alberta Liberal leader earlier in 2004, described Mr. Flaherty’s “sparkling personality,” and remembered how his decision to run for office came about.
Dr. Taft had worked under Mr. Flaherty in the provincial government in the 1980s and they reconnected through the Liberals’ St. Albert Constituency Association in the early 2000s. “It was a fun reunion, a conversation or two, and then we talked him into running,” Dr. Taft recalled this evening. “I think he ran kind of on a lark, just let his name stand.
“But knowing Jack, he worked very hard. He was known in the community. … And, about two thirds of the way through that election, he came home one evening from campaigning and said to his wife, ‘You better sit down. I have something to tell you.’ And so she sat down, very sombrely, and he said, ‘Irene, I think I’m going to win this election’ – and he did!”
“He wasn’t a command-and-control kind of strategic leader,” Dr. Taft added. “He was much more spontaneous and much more focused on people. I think that’s why he did so well in that election.”
Edmonton lawyer Mark Wells, who during Mr. Flaherty’s term as an MLA was a reporter for the St. Albert Gazette, remembered how “he was incredibly charming and moved with the energy of a 20-year-old, even though he had white hair.”
“He was a great story teller who weaved local knowledge and embellishments so well that you really didn’t care about the veracity of the story.”
Peter Bailey, who retired in June as CEO of the St. Albert Public Library, remembered how his first meetings with Mr. Flaherty, then leading the St. Albert and Area Retired Teachers’ Association, illustrated “his infectious enthusiasm and positive energy.”
“He had a great smile and kind of a rascally Irish sparkle in his eyes,” Mr. Bailey “I got the sense that he was genuinely interested in what you had to say – a listener, a true lifetime learner, full of curiosity about the world.”
“When he became MLA for St. Albert in 2004 he met with me to learn more about libraries and what he could do as an Opposition MLA for libraries. He seemed honestly shocked to learn the provincial funding for public libraries was a small portion (and a declining portion) of what municipalities paid for library services.”
Mr. Flaherty was also a good judge of character, in my estimation. When I took a notion to run for St. Albert City Council, I asked him what he thought I should do and he sent me off to talk to the late Elke Blodgett, whom I’d heard of but never met. Well, I didn’t win that election, or the next one I ran in either, but I was certainly schooled in the failings of St. Albert’s City Council (then and now, I might add) from one of the most memorable people I have ever met.
Of Irish and French Canadian descent, Mr. Flaherty was born in Edmonton on Oct. 4, 1933. He left the University of Alberta with three degrees – bachelors of education and physical education, and a master of education. A family obituary notice published this week notes his interests in the stock market and hockey, and his volunteer work with pastoral care, as a school trustee, and with the community services board.
He is survived by his wife Irene, two sons, 10 grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.
A funeral mass will be celebrated at St. Albert the Great Catholic Church, at 10 Prestwick Drive S.E. in Calgary, on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, at 11 a.m.
