John Manley (politician)

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Former Canadian MP John Manley

John Paul Manley, (born January 5, 1950, in Ottawa, Ontario) PC, BA, LL.B is a Canadian lawyer, businessperson and politician.

He is a former Liberal Member of Parliament for Ottawa South from 1988 to 2004 and a Cabinet Minister from 1993 to 2003.

Contents

1 Background
2 Cabinet career
3 2003 Liberal leadership race
4 Post-political career
5 Political ideology
6 Trivia
7 References
8 External links

Background

Manley is a graduate of the University of Ottawa Law School and has also studied at Carleton University and the University of Lausanne. He also attended Bell High School, located in Ottawa, Canada. He articled as a law clerk to Bora Laskin, the Chief Justice of Canada, and was called to the Ontario bar in 1978. Manley's early career was in tax law at the firm Perley-Robertson Hill & McDougall LLP. Manley is an accomplished marathoner. He is married to Judith Manley. Judith and John are both involved with the organization Help Lesotho, and have donated many sheets to the children in Lesotho.

Cabinet career

When the Liberals came to power under Jean Chrétien following the 1993 election he became Minister of Industry. During his time in Industry, Manley was a staunch supporter of Canada-based research and development, and also of increased technology use in public schools. In particular, he felt that the so-called "wired classroom" would help to equalize the gap between urban and smaller, rural schools. These initiatives were partially aimed at combatting the "brain drain", and Manley himself stated that "Canada needs to pursue policies that will make it a magnet for brains, attracting them from elsewhere and retaining the ones we have [link]."

Manley supported Dalton McGuinty's successful bid to lead the Ontario Liberal Party in 1996.

He was shuffled to Minister of Foreign Affairs on the eve of the 2000 election. He was widely applauded for his work in foreign affairs, particularly for helping to ease strained Canada-U.S. relations. He was seen as able to communicate with the U.S. administration, and had a good working relationship with both Colin Powell and Tom Ridge. David Rudd, then director of Toronto's Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies said: "Under Manley, the government of Canada talks to Washington, not at it." In January 2002 he was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and given special responsibility for security in response to 9/11. For his performance in these roles, he was named Time magazine's "Canadian newsmaker of the year" in 2001.

In May 2002 he added Minister of Finance to his responsibilities, thus making him, undisputedly, the most powerful member of the cabinet. His 2003 federal budget, laid out billions of dollars in new spending, primarily in health-care, child-care, and for first nations. It also introduced new accountability features, to help limit federal waste.[link]

2003 Liberal leadership race

When Jean Chrétien announced his decision to retire (largely as a result of attempts to oust him by former finance minister Paul Martin), Manley announced his intention to run for the Liberal leadership. His primary competition was Martin, although heritage minister Sheila Copps also ran, and Brian Tobin and Allan Rock briefly contemplated running. From the beginning, it was apparent that Martin had a significant head start on his rivals (he had been the heir apparent since his failed 1990 leadership bid, and Martin's record as Minister of Finance was impressive). Manley attempted to counteract this, largely by attacking Martin's refusal to disclose his campaign contributors. This tactic, however proved ineffectual, as Manley failed to make a significant dent in Martin's support, generally running at about 25% in polls. Seeing his inevitable defeat, he withdrew from the race on July 22, 2003, conceding defeat to Martin and offering him his backing.

Upon Martin's land-slide victory on November 14, 2003 political commentators wondered whether someone so closely linked to Chrétien would avoid a potentially embarrassing demotion in Martin's new cabinet. On November 28th, Manley announced his retirement from politics.

Post-political career

Martin decided to offer Manley a role as Ambassador to the United States, a prestigious posting Manley said he would seriously consider. However, several days after Prime Minister Martin was sworn in, Manley declined the ambassadorial appointment, apparently because it would take him out of the country and "out of the loop" for fundraising and other political activities with a long-term view towards his own eventual bid for the Liberal leadership someday. [Manley declines Martin offer of Washington post], CTV News, December 16 2003 Shortly thereafter, Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario and close friend of Manley, appointed him to chair a royal commission on the energy system of Ontario in the wake of the eastern North American blackout of 2003.

On May 26, 2004, Manley was named to the Nortel Networks board of directors. On January 27, 2005, he was nominated as a member of the CIBC Board of Directors. He is also chair of the Independent Task Force on the Future of North America, a project of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations. In March 2005, the Task Force released a report that advocated the North American Union, an economic union between Canada, Mexico and the United States which would resemble the European Union. [link]

In an interview with La Presse published on January 24, 2005, he openly declared his ongoing interest in the Liberal leadership. In what was seen by political followers as an unusually frank admission, Manley said he would be a candidate to replace Paul Martin if he were to step down in the next three to four years and was maintaining a cross-country organizational network for this purpose. Although he denied the existence of a formal pact with former cabinet-mate Martin Cauchon, he indicated that in a later leadership race he would probably throw his support to the younger man.

On January 25, 2006, Manley sent a letter to supporters indicating that he was not going to contest the Liberal leadership after the resignation of Paul Martin.[link]

Manley's name has been suggested as a long-shot candidate to become the next Secretary General of the United Nations. [link]

Political ideology

Manley is regarded by some as being from the centre-right of the Liberal party, favouring fiscal conservatism, although his budget included substantial program spending.

Manley seems committed to many of the policies implemented under Chrétien, particularly to expanding foreign aid and improving Canada's "knowledge economy".

Manley is known as a republican and an advocate of the abolition of the Canadian monarchy. This point of view created quite a controversy when, in response to a reporter's question, he publicly stated that the monarchy was unnecessary during a 12-day tour of Canada by the Queen. Manley served as the Queen's escort for the trip, and many felt that his comments were, at best, ill-timed.

Trivia

Manley has been jokingly called "Beaker," due to his resemblance to the hapless assistant to Dr. Bunsen Honeydew on The Muppet Show.

References

External links

[John Manley for PM blog]

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