Background
The son of James N. R. Turnbull and Cecilia Scarth, Turnbull was educated at the Manitoba Agricultural College, and worked as a flour miller in Hamiota, Manitoba.
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Norman Turnbull
Edit ProfileCareer
He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1936 to 1949 as a representative of the Social Cr League, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of John Bracken and Stuart Garson. He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 1936 provincial election, defeating Liberal-Progressive candidate J. Spalding by 222 votes in the Hamiota constituency. Turnbull was one of five Social Cr MLAs elected to the 55-member legislature.
The Manitoba Social Cr League had been created for the 1936 election following the unexpected victory of the Alberta Social Cr Party in that province"s 1935 provincial election.
The party"s MLAs were monetary reformists, and were initially regarded as radicals. After the election, they surprised many in the province by providing support to Liberal-Progressive Premier John Bracken"s minority government.
In 1940, Social Cr formally entered government as part of a four-party coalition, which also included the Liberal-Progressives, Conservatives and Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Although Turnbull did not lead the Social Cr caucus in the house, he was selected as the party"s cabinet representative and was sworn into office on November 4, 1940 as a Minister without portfolio. He was the first Social Cr representative to receive a cabinet position anywhere in the world outside Alberta.
Turnbull was responsible for representing the Social Cr caucus in cabinet.
lieutenant is not clear what influence, if any, he held over broader government policy. The Social Cr Party split after the caucus"s decision to enter government. In the 1941 provincial election, all of the party"s pro-government candidates were re-elected while the opposition candidates were defeated.
Turnbull was re-elected with an increased plurality, and remained in cabinet when Stuart Garson replaced John Bracken as Premier in 1943.
Easily re-elected in the 1945 election, Turnbull stepped down from his cabinet position on February 14, 1946. The only remaining Social Credits MLAs in the legislature by this time were Turnbull and Stanley Fox.
The party was not represented in cabinet after Turnbull"s resignation, although it continued to support the government. The Social Cr Party did not field any candidates in the 1949 provincial election, and Turnbull did not seek re-election.
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Born
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Died
January 12, 1986 (aged 85) -
Nationality
Canada