Bill Newman (politician)

William Gould Newman (1928 – October 12, 1988) was a politician from Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1967 to 1981. He served as a cabinet minister in the government of Bill Davis.

Bill Newman
Ontario MPP
In office 1977–1981
Preceded by	New riding
Succeeded by	Ross Stevenson
Constituency	Durham—York
In office 1975–1977
Preceded by	New riding
Succeeded by	Riding abolished
Constituency	Durham North
In office 1967–1975
Preceded by	New riding
Succeeded by	Riding abolished
Constituency	Ontario South
Personal details
Born	1928 Toronto, Ontario
Died	(1988-10-12)October 12, 1988 (aged 60) Ajax, Ontario
Political party	Progressive Conservative
Spouse(s)	Molly Mitchell
Children	3
Occupation	Farmer

Background

Born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Harry and Margaret Newman, Newman received his degree from the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph. He worked as a farmer in the Pickering area. He was married to Molly Mitchell with whom he had three children.[1]

Politics

Newman started as a councillor for Pickering Township and eventually became reeve of Ontario County.[2]

In 1967, he ran as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the new riding of Ontario South. He defeated New Democrat candidate Tom Edwards by 1,240 votes.[3] He was re-elected in 1971.[4] In 1975 he was re-elected in the redistributed riding of Durham North and in 1977 he was re-elected in the riding of Durham—York.[5][6]

In February 1974 he was appointed as Minister of Environment.[7] During his time as Environment Minister he was criticized for failing to ban non-returnable bottles and for refusing to place restrictions on the use of snowmobiles.[2] In October 1975, he was appointed as Minister of Agriculture and Food.[8] In this capacity Newman was responsible for the creation of the Foodland Ontario program, which continues to today, designed to promote the sale of Ontario-grown agricultural products.[9]

He resigned from Cabinet in 1979 due to high blood pressure and did not run in 1981.[2]

Cabinet positions

Ontario Provincial Government of Bill Davis
Cabinet posts (2)
Predecessor	Office	Successor
Bill Stewart	Minister of Agriculture and Food 1975–1979	Lorne Henderson
James Auld	Minister of Environment 1974–1975	George Kerr

Later life

In 1981, he was appointed to the board of the LCBO. He was also a member of a committee appointed to study the best use of the Pickering Airport lands.[2] A supporter of a wide range of community groups, Newman had a particularly strong association with the Ajax-Pickering Hospital and St. Paul's Church-On-The-Hill, Dunbarton.

Newman died October 12, 1988 at Ajax-Pickering Hospital following an illness of almost two years. He was 60.[1]

References

1. "William Newman Obituary". Stouffville Times. October 1988. Archived from the original on 2014-11-04.
2. "Pickering-area farmer held posts in Davis government". The Globe and Mail. October 14, 1988. p. A16.
3. Canadian Press (October 18, 1967). "Tories win, but..." The Windsor Star. Windsor, Ontario. p. B2.
4. "Riding-by-riding returns in provincial election". The Globe and Mail. October 23, 1971. p. 10.
5. "Table of vote results for all Ontario ridings". The Globe and Mail. September 19, 1975. p. C12.
6. "Ontario provincial election results riding by riding". The Globe and Mail. June 10, 1977. p. D9.
7. Dunlop, Marilyn (February 27, 1974). "The new cabinet lines up like this". The Toronto Star. p. A3.
8. "Davis rebuffs Rhodes after appointing him housing portfolio". The Globe and Mail. October 8, 1975. pp. 1, 2.
9. "Food promotion Agriculture Ministry to be reorganized". The Globe and Mail. September 8, 1978. p. 5.

External links

• Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history (archived)