John Napier Wyndham Turner

Background

Turner was born in Richmond, England, on June 7, 1929, and came to Canada when he was three years old.

Education

He studied political science at the University of British Columbia. Following graduation in 1949 Turner won a Rhodes Scholarship to read law at Oxford University in England.

Career

In 1953 Turner joined the Montreal law firm of Stikeman and Elliott. He was named queen's counsel in 1968.

In 1962 Turner entered politics as a Liberal, winning a seat in the House of Commons in the elections of that year. Elected leader of the Liberal Party, he assumed the office of prime minister on June 16, 1984, following the retirement of Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. He served in the government of Lester B. Pearson, first as minister of northern affairs and natural resources, then minister without portfolio (1965), registrar general (1967 - 1968), minister of consumer and corporate affairs (1968), and solicitor general (1968). In 1968 Turner ran for election as Liberal Party leader but lost to Pierre Trudeau. Turner joined Prime Minister Trudeau's cabinet as minister of justice and attorney general of Canada and was appointed minister of finance in 1972.

He resigned from office in 1975 over the government's policy of mandatory wage and price controls. Turner then left politics, becoming a partner in the Toronto law firm of McMillan, Binch. Although in private life for the next ten years, Turner won the party leadership in June 1984, when Trudeau retired, and immediately called national elections. Turner had cultivated a conservative, pro-business image, and he made economic recovery his primary pledge to the voters. After a campaign marred by Turner's inexpert electioneering, however, the Liberals lost heavily to the Progressive Conservative Party at the polls on Sept. 4, 1984. In the elections of Nov. 21, 1988, whose central issue was a free-trade agreement with the United States that he opposed, Turner campaigned more effectively. Although the Progressive Conservatives retained power, the Liberals doubled their parliamentary representation.

Achievements

• Turner was Canada's first prime minister born in the United Kingdom. Turner stayed on as Liberal leader and resigned as Liberal one. Turner's years as finance minister were very difficult because of turbulent and unusual conditions in the world economy, characterized as stagflation, largely caused by enormous increases in the price of oil.

Politics

Turner has voiced his support for the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation which campaigns for democratic reformation of the United Nations, and the creation of a more accountable international political system.

Connections

Turner was married on May 11, 1963, to Geills McCrae Kilgour (b. 1937) who was a grand-niece of Canadian Army doctor John McCrae. The Turners have a daughter named Elizabeth and three sons: David, Michael, and Andrew.

Spouse:

Geills McCrae Kilgour

Daughter:

Elizabeth

Son:

David

Son:

Andrew

Son:

Michael