Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Goodale, Ralph Edward (MP)
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1939-
History
Ralph Edward Goodale was born in 1939 in Regina, Saskatchewan and raised on a farm near Wilcox, Saskatchewan. He attended the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus and then obtained a law degree from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, where he was awarded the Gold Medal for academic achievement. Goodale was first elected in 1974 as the member of Parliament (MP) for Assiniboia, as a member of the Liberal Party. He was defeated in 1979, and moved into provincial Saskatchewan politics, serving as leader of the Saskatchewan Liberals from 1981 to 1988. He returned to federal politics in 1993, as the MP for Regina-Wascana (known simply as Wascana from 1997 to 2015), and served in the governments of Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin and Justin Trudeau, in several roles including as minister of finance and minister of public safety. Goodale sought re-election in the 2019 federal election, but lost his bid to Conservative Party candidate Michael Kram in a rematch of the 2015 race. Goodale has served as the Canadian high commissioner to the United Kingdom since April 2021.