Jack Horner (politician)
Minister Without Portfolio | |
---|---|
In office April 21, 1977 – September 16, 1977 | |
Prime Minister | Pierre Trudeau |
Personal details | |
Born | John Henry Horner July 20, 1927 Calgary, Alberta |
Nationality | Canadian |
Political party | Liberal (1977-2004) |
Other political affiliations | Progressive Conservative (1958-1977) |
Spouse | Leola Horner |
Relations | Hugh Horner (Brother) Norval Horner (Brother) Albert Horner (Cousin) |
Children | Brent Horner Craig Horner |
Parent | Ralph Horner |
Profession | Farmer, Rancher |
John Henry "Jack" Horner PC (July 20, 1927 – November 18, 2004) was a Canadian rancher, politician, and Cabinet minister.
Life and career
Nicknamed "Cactus Jack", Horner was born in
Jack Horner moved to Alberta at the age of 18 to manage a ranch purchased by his father and then bought his own ranch in 1947.
He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1958 federal election from the rural central Alberta riding of Acadia, when the Progressive Conservative Party of which he was a member won the biggest majority government in Canadian history. Horner was an avid supporter of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker. Also elected to the Parliament of Canada as Tories were his older brother, Hugh Horner and cousin Albert Horner. With Jack Horner's father, Ralph, still sitting as a Senator, four Horners were sitting in the two chambers of Parliament simultaneously. Another brother, Norval Horner, was elected to the House in 1972. When Acadia was abolished in 1968, the bulk of it was absorbed into the new riding of Crowfoot, and Horner ran from this riding and won.
According to Jack Horner's obituary in The Globe and Mail newspaper:
- He presented himself as a friend of farmers, a foe of Red Toriesin his own party.
Horner developed a reputation as a right winger and outspoken advocate for the rights of farmers and ranchers. He remained one of "Diefenbaker's cowboys" during the 1960s, backing Diefenbaker against the ultimately successful attempts to unseat him. At the 1966 Tory convention which changed the rules to allow a challenge to a sitting leader, Horner threw a punch at Dalton Camp supporter Roy McMurtry, and accosted Brian Mulroney in a hallway. He resented the leadership of Diefenbaker's successor, Robert Stanfield, describing him as "a very, very sad choice". Horner worked to undermine Stanfield's leadership through manoeuvers such as leading a revolt against the party's support for the Official Languages Act.
He was a candidate for the PC Party leadership at the
Horner had even less respect for Clark than he had for Stanfield. Although Clark was a fellow Albertan, Horner regarded him as a city slicker. Horner once paid Clark the ultimate rancher's insult by describing him as a "sheep herder."
On April 20, 1977, Horner shocked his constituents and many political observers by
Despite (or perhaps due to) his Cabinet position, Horner's floor-crossing was extremely unpopular in his strongly conservative riding. Even by rural Alberta standards, Crowfoot was an unshakably conservative area. Most of its living residents had never been represented by a Liberal, and the bulk of its territory had been represented by centre-right MPs since 1935. He was not helped by the redistribution ahead of the 1979 federal election, which pushed him into a riding that was almost two-thirds new to him. Although it retained the name of Crowfoot, most of its constituents came from neighbouring Battle River, represented by fellow Tory Arnold Malone.
Many critics argued that Horner's floor crossing was motivated by opportunism as opposed to ideology and ultimately provoked by the pending electoral redistribution. Had Horner remained with the Tories, the redistribution meant he would have had to face Malone for the PC nomination. Horner would have faced a difficult road to gaining the PC nomination in the redistributed Crowfoot. It was more Malone's riding than Horner's, and Malone was also favoured by Clark and the PC establishment. That left Horner with only three options: run as an
In any event, Horner ran for reelection even though polling indicated he faced almost certain defeat. One poll showed him getting only 15 percent of the vote, down from 75 percent in 1974.[1] As expected, Horner was badly defeated in the 1979 election, which unseated the Liberal government. His vote share collapsed to 18 percent, losing almost three fourths of his vote from 1974. Ultimately, he finished a very distant second, more than 20,000 votes behind Malone. Horner attempted a comeback in the 1980 federal election, but despite the return of a Liberal government nationally, Horner again placed a poor second in Crowfoot, winning only 4,761 votes, 1,000 votes fewer than he had managed in 1979.
The Liberal government appointed him to the board of
He died at a Calgary hospital, leaving his wife, Leola, and two sons, Brent and Craig.
References
Further reading
- Horner, Jack (1980). My own brand. Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers. ISBN 978-0-88830-189-5.