John Paul Harney

John Paul Harney (born February 2, 1931) is a Canadian professor and former politician.

John Paul Harney
Member of Parliament for Scarborough West
In office 1972–1974
Preceded by	David Weatherhead
Succeeded by	Alan Martin
Personal details
Born	(1931-02-02) February 2, 1931 Lévis, Quebec[1]
Nationality	Canadian
Political party	New Democrat
Parents	William Harney, Blanche Lemieux[1]
Residence	Prince Edward County, Ontario
Alma mater	Queen's University
Profession	Poet, Professor

Academic life

After completing his M.A. at Queen's University in 1961, he became an assistant professor of English at the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph, Ontario, and taught there until 1966.[2] He was also a poet, and gave readings at the Guelph Public Library.[3] In 1970, he became a humanities professor at York University,[4] and was still a professor of Canadian studies there in 1992.[5]

Political career

Harney ran as a candidate for the New Democratic Party throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

From 1962 to 1965, he stood as a candidate for the House of Commons of Canada in Wellington South.[lower-alpha 1] After moving to Toronto, he then stood once more as a candidate in Scarborough West in the 1968 federal election. He won a seat in the House of Commons in the 1972 federal election, but was defeated in 1974. He continued to campaign in subsequent elections there up to 1980. In addition, he sought the NDP nomination in the 1978 federal byelection for Broadview, but lost out to Bob Rae.[7]

He was the Provincial Secretary for the Ontario New Democratic Party from 1966 to 1970. In that time, he was also the campaign manager for that party's breakthrough campaign in the 1967 general election.[8]

He campaigned to become national leader at the NDP's 1971 leadership convention, coming in third behind winner David Lewis and runner-up James Laxer. He stood as a candidate again at the 1975 leadership convention,[9] where he got as far as the second ballot. In 1981, he became involved in party debates concerning the forthcoming adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, arguing that it was silent about labour rights to organize, strike and bargain.[10]

Born in Quebec and fluently bilingual, Harney returned to the province and became leader of the Quebec wing of the federal NDP in 1984. He continued to teach at York University, while living in Sillery.[1] He led the relaunching of the New Democratic Party of Quebec as a provincial party in 1985[11] but was unable to win a seat either in the federal House of Commons (running in Lévis in two elections) or in the Quebec National Assembly (running in Louis-Hébert).[12]

Late in the 1988 federal election campaign, he called a press conference to support using the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Constitution to protect Quebec's francophone culture and restrict the use of other languages.[13] This press conference was not endorsed by the NDP leadership, and many believe that it cost the party support among Quebec's anglophones.[14] He stepped down later that year. Although he favoured the Bloc Québécois position on Quebec sovereignty, he refused to consider becoming one of its candidates as long as it pursued independence from Canada.[5]

Harney is retired and lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario, and has been involved in promoting local causes.[15]

Electoral record

Federal

Wellington South

1962 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Alfred Dryden HALES	11,345	42.0	-17.4
	Liberal	Roy MCVITTIE	8,508	31.5	-0.6
	New Democratic	John HARNEY	6,989	25.9	17.4
	Social Credit	Reginald YOUD	174	0.6	0.6
Total valid votes			27,016	100.0

1963 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Alfred Dryden HALES	11,350	39.7	-2.3
	Liberal	Ralph DENT	10,713	37.5	6.0
	New Democratic	John HARNEY	6,391	22.3	-3.6
	Social Credit	Reginald YOUD	150	0.5	-0.1
Total valid votes			28,604	100.0

1965 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Alfred Dryden HALES	11,264	38.8	-0.9
	New Democratic	John HARNEY	9,190	31.6	7.3
	Liberal	Donald E. MCFADZEN	8,595	29.6	-7.9
Total valid votes			29,049	100.0

Scarborough West

1968 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David WEATHERHEAD	14,889	42.9
	New Democratic	John Paul HARNEY	12,473	35.9
	Progressive Conservative	Herb CROSBY	7,340	21.2
Total valid votes			34,702	100.00

1972 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	John Paul HARNEY	15,028	36.4	+0.5
	Liberal	David WEATHERHEAD	13,635	33.0	-9.9
	Progressive Conservative	Basil CLARK	12,539	30.4	+9.2
	Independent	Roger TENTREY	103	0.2	+0.2
Total valid votes			41,305	100.00

1974 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alan MARTIN	13,702	36.6	+3.6
	New Democratic	John Paul HARNEY	12,298	32.8	-3.6
	Progressive Conservative	Basil CLARK	11,339	30.2	-0.2
	Marxist–Leninist	Linda TURNBULL	89	0.2	+0.2
	Independent	Harold ROWBOTTOM	61	0.2	0.0
Total valid votes			37,489	100.00

1979 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Bill WIGHTMAN	15,697	36.4	+6.2
	Liberal	Alan MARTIN	13,523	31.4	-5.2
	New Democratic	John Paul HARNEY	13,437	31.2	-1.6
	Libertarian	D'Arcy J. CAIN	257	0.6	+0.6
	Communist	Tom BULL	114	0.3	+0.3
	Marxist–Leninist	Brenda MILLER	56	0.1	-0.1
Total valid votes			43,084	100.00

1980 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David WEATHERHEAD	14,316	35.1	+3.7
	New Democratic	John Paul HARNEY	13,146	32.2	+1.0
	Progressive Conservative	Bill WIGHTMAN	12,744	31.3	-5.1
	Libertarian	D'Arcy J. CAIN	401	1.0	+0.4
	Communist	John MACLENNAN	92	0.2	-0.1
	Marxist–Leninist	Brenda MILLER	66	0.2	+0.1
Total valid votes			40,765	100.00

Lévis

1984 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Gabriel Fontaine	32,338	49.6
	Liberal	Gaston Gourde	17,283	26.4
	New Democratic	Jean-Paul Harney	12,076	18.5
	Parti nationaliste	Antoine Dubé	1,649	2.5
	Rhinoceros	Raymond Emiliano Marquis	1,630	2.5
	Social Credit	Jean-Paul Rhéaume	216	0.3
Total valid votes			65,192	100.0

1988 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Gabriel Fontaine	33,673	57.4	7.8
	Liberal	Denis Sonier	13,002	22.2	-4.2
	New Democratic	Jean-Paul Harney	11,501	19.6	1.1
	Social Credit	Jean-Paul Rhéaume	445	0.8	0.5
Total valid votes			58,621	100.0

Québec

Louis-Hébert

1985 Quebec general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Réjean Doyon	16,913	51.9	-0.9
	Parti Québécois	Louise Beaudoin	12,279	37.7	-6.4
	New Democrat	Jean-Paul Harney	2,798	8.6	+8.6
	Progressive Conservative	Claudette J. Hethrington	287	0.9	+0.9
	Independentist	Emmanuel Le Brasseur	252	0.8	+0.8
	Christian Socialist	Michel Durocher	58	0.2	+0.2

Notes

1. Since 1898, it had been the policy of the provincial government that no civil servant, under any condition, could ever be involved in politics. As the Ontario Agricultural College was then a branch of the Ontario Department of Agriculture, Harney was subject to the policy. The ensuing controversy in 1962 was resolved when Premier John Robarts announced that civil servants would be entitled to take a leave of absence in order to campaign.[6]

References

1. Graham Fraser (January 17, 1987). "Harney-watchers in NDP see two different people". The Globe and Mail.
2. "Four chase Lewis for the NDP leadership". The Globe and Mail. April 17, 1971. p. 7.
3. Joan Finnigan (January 20, 1962). "Canadian poetry finds its voice in a Golden Age". The Globe and Mail.
4. Canadian Press (June 3, 1985). "Quebec's fledgling NDP picks Harney to lead way". The Globe and Mail.
5. Yves Boisvert (June 22, 1992). "Le Bloc québécois: une coalition plutôt hétéroclite" (PDF). La Presse (in French). p. 12.
6. Donald C. MacDonald (May 13, 1982). "PUBLIC SERVANTS POLITICAL RIGHTS ACT". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Ontario: Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
7. Rae, Bob (1996). From Protest to Power: Personal Reflections on a Life in Politics. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. p. 70. ISBN 0-7710-7287-2.
8. Jack Cahill (January 17, 1967). "The gray flannel "brains trust" that runs Ontario's NDP". Toronto Daily Star. pp. 1, 14.
9. Peter Daniel (June 27, 1975). "Ed Broadbent: Race for the leadership". CBC News.
10. Aivalis, Christo (2018). The Constant Liberal: Pierre Trudeau, Organized Labour, and the Canadian Social Democratic Left. Vancouver: UBC Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-7748-3713-2.
11. Fraser, Graham, "Toronto university professor runs as Quebec NDP chief," Globe and Mail, September 3, 1984
12. "General election results , 2 December 1985".
13. Jennifer Robinson, "NDP would restrict English rights; 'West Island' no longer running party, vice-president declares," Montreal Gazette, 5 November 1988, A1.
14. Ingrid Peritz, "Language hard-liners hurt NDP in west end," Montreal Gazette, 23 November 1988, A10.
15. "Minutes: Corporation of the County of Prince Edward". County of Prince Edward. June 28, 2004. p. 3.

Bibliography

• John Paul Harney (1960). "Alternatives for My Son". Poetry. Poetry Foundation. 95 (5): 285. JSTOR 20587788.
• John Paul Harney (1961). Matter, spirit and Paradise Lost (M.A.). Queen's University.
• Eugene V. Rostow; John Harney; André Côté; Ernest Sirluck (1973). Nationalism and the University. Frank Gerstein Lectures (1971). Toronto: York University. ISBN 0-919604-00-5.

External links

• John Paul Harney – Parliament of Canada biography
• "Ontario CCF-NDP Oral History Project". Oral History Centre.