Manning, Preston, 1942–, Canadian political leader. Although he is the son of Ernest C. Manning, a leader of the Social Credit party who was premier of Alberta for 25 years, Preston Manning headed a management consulting firm for many years before he entered Canadian national politics. In 1987 he was one of the founders of the Reform party, a largely western, conservative, and strongly federalist party that arose in part in opposition to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's attempt to negotiate a special status for Quebec within Canada. Elected to Parliament in 1993, he became opposition leader after the 1997 balloting, when the Reform party won 60 seats. After the party reconstituted itself as the Canadian Alliance in 2000, he was defeated for leadership of the party by Stockwell Day; he retired from politics in 2002. Manning wrote The New Canada (1992).
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