John Turner

Biography

John Napier Wyndham Turner was born on 7 June 1929 in Richmond, England. After his father's death, his mother brought him to Canada in 1932, and he grew up in Rossland, British Columbia, and Ottawa. He studied political science at the University of British Columbia, graduating in 1949, and was a champion sprinter who qualified for Canada's team for the 1948 Olympic Games, though injury kept him from competing. As a Rhodes Scholar he studied law at Oxford and later pursued further studies in Paris.

Turner was called to the Quebec bar in 1954 and practised law in Montreal. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1962 for the Montreal riding of St. Lawrence–St. George. In 1963 he married Geills Kilgour; they had four children. Lester Pearson brought him into cabinet in 1965, and he later served as registrar general and as the first minister of consumer and corporate affairs.

Turner ran for the Liberal leadership in 1968 and finished third behind Pierre Trudeau. He then won the Ottawa–Carleton riding and served as Trudeau's minister of justice from 1968 to 1972, a period that included the passage of major Criminal Code reforms and the creation of the Federal Court of Canada. As minister of finance from 1972 to 1975 he introduced the indexation of personal income tax to inflation. He resigned from cabinet in September 1975 and left Parliament the following year to practise law in Toronto.

When Trudeau retired, Turner won the Liberal leadership in June 1984 without holding a seat, and he was sworn in as the 17th prime minister on 30 June 1984. He reduced the size of the cabinet and called an election for 4 September. During the campaign he was criticized for confirming a series of patronage appointments that Trudeau had made before leaving office. The Liberals were reduced to 40 seats, and Turner left office on 17 September 1984 after 79 days. He won his own seat in Vancouver Quadra.

As Leader of the Opposition, Turner rebuilt the party and made opposition to the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement the central issue of the 1988 election. The Liberals more than doubled their seat count to 83 but remained in opposition. He stepped down as leader in 1990, when Jean Chrétien succeeded him, and did not run again in 1993.

After politics Turner returned to the practice of law in Toronto and remained active in public causes, including the protection of lakes and waterways, and in 2004 he led Canada's delegation of observers to the repeat presidential election in Ukraine. He died in Toronto on 19 September 2020, at the age of 91.