John Turner

The Rt. Hon. John Napier Turner, PC, CC, QC, BA, BCL, LL.D.
File:Jturner.jpg
In office June 30, 1984 – September 17, 1984
Personal details
Political party	Liberal

John Napier Turner (born June 7, 1929) was the seventeenth Prime Minister of Canada from June 30, 1984 to September 17, 1984. He is the oldest living former Prime Minister. According to Canadian protocol, as a former Prime Minister, he is styled "The Right Honourable" for life.

He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, and emigrated to Canada as a baby in 1932. Turner was the first PM since Mackenzie Bowell to not be Canadian born. He was educated at the University of British Columbia (B.A. Honours), Oxford University, (Rhodes Scholar, B.A., Bachelor of Civil Law), and the University of Paris (the Sorbonne). In 1948 he qualified for Canada's Olympic team as a sprinter, but couldn't compete due to an injury.

He was married in 1963 to Geills McCrae Kilgour (b. 1937) and has one daughter and three sons. He practised law in Toronto, Ontario, and was elected as a member of Parliament in 1962. He served in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Lester Pearson in various capacities, most notably as Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs. When Pearson retired, Turner ran to succeed him at the 1968 leadership convention. The youthful Turner claimed that "My time is now," and remarked during his speech that he was "not here for some vague, future convention in say, 1984." Turner was far behind winner Pierre Trudeau and runner-up Robert Winters, but stayed on until the fourth and final ballot anyway, finishing third.

Turner served in Trudeau's cabinet as Minister of Justice for four years. During that time, he oversaw the introduction of computers to keep traack of cases, the end of partisan judicial appointments, implementation of the War Measures Act during the October Crisis, and the controversial Bill C-150, which decriminalized abortion and homosexuality as well as softening divorce laws.

Turner then served as Minister of Finance from 1972 until 1975, when he surprisingly resigned from cabinet. Later, Turner would reveal he was trying to implement wage and price controls to combat stagflation, which Trudeau had opposed since he had campaigned against their use. Turner and Trudeau had disagreed on many issues, including Bill C-150, and the use of the War Measures Act.

From 1975 to 1984, Turner worked as a corporate lawyer on Bay Street, and occasionally made speeches on political issues. He also published a newsletter which was highly critical of the Liberals' economic policy. When Pierre Trudeau resigned as Liberal leader in 1979 following an election loss; Turner announced that he would not be a candidate for the Liberal leadership. Trudeau was talked into rescinding his resignation after the government of Joe Clark was defeated by a Motion of No Confidence, and returned to contest, and win the 1980 federal election. Trudeau would serve as Prime Minister until 1984.

When Prime Minister Trudeau retired, John Turner re-entered politics and was elected leader of his party and became prime minister, defeating Jean Chrétien, his successor as finance minister, on the second ballot of the June 1984 Liberal leadership convention. Turner served as Prime Minister of Canada for 2 months and 17 days. Plagued by controversy over a series of patronage appointments he made shortly after taking office in fulfilment of an agreement he had made with Trudeau, he was defeated by Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative Party in the 1984 federal election. The Liberal campaign was damaged by Turner's poor debate performances, voter apathy with the Liberal government, charges of misogyny, and Turner's appearance to be "serially insincere" during press scrums and public speeches. His period in office was thus almost entirely consumed by the election, and Turner's government did not have time to implement any serious legislative initiatives.

Turner remained leader of the opposition, and lost to Mulroney again in the election of 1988. In that election, Turner campaigned much more vigorously than in 1984, rallying support against the proposed Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. Turner argued that its adoption would lead to the abandonment of Canada's political sovereignty to the United States. It is a stance that Turner maintains to this day.

Jean Chrétien had resigned from Parliament in 1986, but he led a long and bitter backroom struggle to depose Turner. He would eventually succeed in 1990, when Turner resigned as party leader. The ongoing and often open unpopularity of Turner within his own party led to many editorial cartoonists to draw him with a back stabbed full of knives.

Legacy

File:JohnTurner.jpg

Prime Minister John Turner's official portrait by Brenda Bury.

Turner's changes to the Liberal Party's ideology, policies and membership during his years as party leader may be his legacy, rather than his brief months as prime minister. While Turner portrayed himself as a protectionist and anti-Free Trade crusader in 1988, he was largely pro-business and favoured smaller government and tax cuts for corporations during his six years as Liberal Party leader.

Though Chretien was portrayed as a left-wing Liberal in his contest against both Turner and Paul Martin (who had the support of many of Turner's followers in the 1990 Liberal leadership convention), the Chretien government proved to be fiscally conservative. The business Liberal wing of the party eclipsed the "left" during the 1990s with its authority being consolidated under former prime minister Paul Martin. The philosophically left-wing elements of the party, who despised Turner and embraced Pierre Trudeau and Jean Chretien, have been moved into the party's periphery.

Turner is a member of several Boards of Directors for several large Canadian companies. In late 2004, Turner headed the delegation of Canadian election monitors to Ukraine who helped monitor the Ukrainian presidential runoff vote of December 26. The monitoring was the first mission of the new Canada Corps.

In 1994, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

External links

• Order of Canada Citation
• University of British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame
• CBC Archives - The Long Run: The Political Rise of John Turner