William Gould Newman (1928 – October 12, 1988) was a politician from

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...

from 1967 to 1981. He served as a cabinet minister in the government of

Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the member of provincial Parliament for Peel in the 1959 provincia ...

Background

Born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, the son of Harry and Margaret Newman, Newman received his degree from the

Ontario Agricultural College The Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) originated at the agricultural laboratories of the Toronto Normal School, and was officially founded in 1874 as an associate agricultural college of the University of Toronto. Since 1964, it has become affili ...

in Guelph. He worked as a farmer in the Pickering area. He was married to Molly Mitchell with whom he had three children.

Politics

Newman started as a councillor for Pickering Township and eventually became reeve of Ontario County. In 1967, he ran as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the new riding of

Ontario South Ontario South was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1925. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867. The South riding consisted initi ...

. He defeated

New Democrat New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as culturall ...

candidate Tom Edwards by 1,240 votes. He was re-elected in 1971. In 1975 he was re-elected in the redistributed riding of

Durham North Durham North may refer to: * Durham North (Ontario provincial electoral district) * Durham North (UK Parliament constituency) * Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County ...

and in 1977 he was re-elected in the riding of

Durham—York Durham—York was a provincial electoral district in northern Durham Region and York Region in Ontario, Canada that elected members to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. It contained the towns of East Gwillimbury, Newmarket, Ontario, Newmarket, Wh ...

. In February 1974 he was appointed as Minister of Environment. 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. In October 1975, he was appointed as Minister of Agriculture and Food. In this capacity Newman was responsible for the creation of the

Foodland Ontario Foodland Ontario, founded in 1977, is a consumer promotion program for the government of Ontario. Foodland Ontario currently falls under the administration of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs in Ontario. Through market researc ...

program, which continues to today, designed to promote the sale of Ontario-grown agricultural products. He resigned from Cabinet in 1979 due to high blood pressure and did not run in 1981.

Cabinet positions

Later life

In 1981, he was appointed to the board of the

LCBO The Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation that retails and distributes alcoholic beverages throughout the Provinces of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. It is accountable to the Legislati ...

. He was also a member of a committee appointed to study the best use of the Pickering Airport lands. 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.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Newman, Bill 1928 births 1988 deaths Members of the Executive Council of Ontario People from Pickering, Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs