Jack Horner (politician)

John "Jack" Henry Horner (born July 20, 1927 in Blaine Lake , Saskatchewan , † November 18, 2004 in Calgary , Alberta ) was a Canadian politician .

biography

Professional and political career

As early as 1945, when he was 18, Horner became the manager of a father's farm and in 1947 became the owner of his own farm.

He began his political career as a candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC) in 1958 when he was elected for the first time as a member of the Canadian House of Commons . There he first represented the constituency of Acadia and then, since 1968, the newly created constituency of Crowfoot . Within a very short time he acquired the reputation of an arch-conservative spokesman for the farmers of Western Canada and thus belonged to the circle of the so-called " Diefenbaker Cowboys ".

In 1976 he applied to succeed Robert Stanfield as chairman of the PC, but was defeated by Joe Clark . On April 20, 1977, he resigned from the PC because Clark would not have promised him support for a new candidacy in the Crowfoot constituency for the next 1979 general election . Instead, he became a member of the Liberal Party of Canada (LP) .

The very next day, the liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau appointed him Minister without Portfolio in his government. A few months later, as part of a government reshuffle in September 1977, he was appointed Minister of Industry, Commerce and Trade in Trudeau's cabinet. After the electoral defeat of the Liberal Party of Canada in the 1979 election, Horner left the government and the House of Commons.

A short time later, however, he was appointed to the board of directors of the Canadian National Railway , of which he was chairman between 1982 and 1984. He was then from 1984 to 1988 administrator of the agency for grain in the prairie region (Prairie Grain Agency).

family

Horner's father Ralph Horner was as board member of the Canadian National Railway, and from 1933 until his death in 1964 a member of the Canadian Senate as a representative of the province of Saskatchewan .

His older brother Hugh Horner was also a member of the House of Commons between 1958 and 1967 and was temporarily a minister in the Alberta government . His younger brother Norval Horner was also a Member of the House of Commons between 1972 and 1974, as was his cousin Albert Horner, who was a Member of the House of Commons from 1958 to 1968.

His nephew Doug Horner, son of Hugh Horner, is Minister and, since 2010, Deputy Prime Minister of the Province of Alberta.

Web links

• Jack Horner - biographical information on the website of the Canadian Parliament (English)
• Entry rulers.org