Richard Haskayne

Richard Haskayne was born on 18 December 1934 in Calgary to Robert Stanley Haskayne (1893–1964) and Bertha Hasketh (1891–1961). Robert and Bertha were both born in England, came to Canada in 1913, and married that same year. They had one other son, Stanley (1928–2005). The Haskaynes owned butcher shops in Carseland and Gleichen, and raised their sons in the latter town. Richard entered the University of Alberta in 1952, and in 1956 graduated Bachelor of Commerce. During his time at university Haskayne was a member of Kappa Sigma.

Upon graduation in 1956, Haskayne began his accounting career in Calgary as an articling student with Riddell, Stead, Graham & Hutchison. In 1959 he received his designation as a Chartered Accountant. In 1960 he left the firm to join the Hudson's Bay Oil and Gas Company as an accountant. He remained in this role until 1973, when he became the comptroller of Canadian Arctic Gas Study Limited, a consortium HBOG was part of that was investigating the construction of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline. Haskayne returned in 1975 to HBOG and that year became its vice-president. On 29 April 1980, Haskayne was appointed president of the company, succeeding Stanley G. Olson. Beginning in May 1981, Dome Petroleum undertook a hostile takeover of HBOG. In October of that year, Home Oil Company announced that it had appointed Haskayne president. In January 1982, two months before the Dome deal concluded, Haskayne assumed his new role.

As president of Home Oil, Haskayne took over one of the country's oldest independent petroleum companies. At the time, the company was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hiram Walker Resources Limited. After Gulf Canada purchased Hiram Walker, in 1986 the Interprovincial Pipeline Company acquired Home. As part of the acquisition, Interprovincial created a new parent company, Interhome Energy Inc, to manage Interprovincial Pipeline and Home Oil. Haskayne remained president of Home, was appointed president of Interprovincial in 1987, and in 1988 became chairman and president of Interhome. In 1991, Interhome dissolved and spun off its two subsidiaries as independent companies. In March 1991, Haskayne stepped down from his role with the company.

On 1 May 1991, Haskayne was elected to the board of directors of Nova Corporation, formerly the Alberta Gas Trunk Line Company. That August, he took over as head of the company's pipeline, oil, and gas divisions. At the company's annual general meeting in 1992, Haskayne was elected chairman, succeeding Daryl K. Seaman. In June 1998, TransCanada Pipelines acquired all of Nova's petroleum operations, and the petrochemical operations were continued under the name Nova Chemicals. Upon the merger, Haskayne assumed the chairmanship of Trans-Canada. Between 1996 and 1999 he also served as chairman of MacMillan Bloedel, and from 1996 to 1998 as chairman of TransAlta. In April 2005, Haskayne retired as chairman of Trans-Canada and was succeeded by S. Barry Jackson.

On 25 June 1958 Haskayne married Lee Mary Murray of Gleichen. Lee died on 1 October 1993 at age 57 after developing ALS. The Haskaynes did not have children. On 4 September 1998, Haskayne remarried to Lois Paula Kenney, who was the ex-wife of Strathcona-Tweedmuir School founding headmaster William Alexander Heard (1932–2011).[1] Haskayne is a member of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Progressive Conservative Party. He is also a member of the Calgary Petroleum Club, Ranchmen's Club, Calgary Golf & Country Club, and Earl Grey Golf Club.