Description

BUCHANAN, MA, ALAN GILMORE, university lecturer, government policy advisor, corporate development manager, and director of government relations; b. 28 October 1952 in Belfast, son of Samuel Buchanan and Mae Gilmore; m. 1 September 1978 Deborah Ann Watts of Grand Tracadie, and they have four children, Sam, Alison, Hannah, and Colin; Presbyterian.
Buchanan, a Liberal, was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in the general election of 1989 for 4th Queens. He was re-elected in the general election of 1993. On 15 April of that year, he w'as appointed Minister of Health and Social Services and on 9 June 1994 became Minister of Provincial Affairs and Attorney-General. Buchanan was a member of the Municipal Management Board. As Minister of Health and Social Services, he guided the health reform law through the Legislature. The bill restructured the health care system and provoked some protest from the health care unions’ membership. Buchanan served on the Cabinet Committee on Rural Development, as well as a number of other legislative and standing committees. On 21 May 1996 he resigned from Cabinet and the Legislative Assembly.
Buchanan graduated from the University of Prince Edward Island with a Bachelor of Arts and from Queen's University with a Master of Arts. He was a lecturer in political studies and Canadian Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island and a senior economic policy advisor with the provincial government. In 1996, following his political career, he accepted the position of corporate development manager with Island Telephone, and currently works as director of government relations for Aliant Incorporated, Island Telephone’s parent company.
Buchanan contributed to the establishment of the advisory board of the Institute of Island Studies. He was a member of the Board of Theatre Prince Edward Island, a president of the Belfast Historical Society, and a director of the Belfast Pipe and Drum Band Incorporated. Buchanan was a member of the Unit Four school board and the publications committee of the Prince Edward Island Museum and Heritage Foundation. In April 1997 Buchanan was appointed to the Law Commission of Canada. He has published articles in the journal Canadian Ethnic Studies, and contributed text on the Prince Edward Island Development Plan to the social studies textbook Maritimes: Tradition, Challenge and Change.
Alan Buchanan and his family reside in Belfast., CPG 1996; Maritimes: Tradition. Challenge and Change, pp. 169-171; Guardian 18 March 1993. 18 May 1996. 23 May 1996, 17 August 1996: appointment announcement, Island Telephone, 25 April 1997 p. A4, 6 June 2001 p. C2.