John Twining Clement (August 28, 1928 – June 24, 2014) was a politician in

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 served in 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 ...

as a Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament from 1971 to 1975 and was in the cabinet of premier

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

Clement was born in

Niagara Falls, Ontario Niagara Falls is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is on the western bank of the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario, with a population of 88,071 at the 2016 census. It is part of the St. Catharines - Niagara Census M ...

. He went to Queen's University and later attended

Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The law school is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the Journal of Law and Social Policy, and the ''Osgoode Hall La ...

which he attended at the same time as future premier Bill Davis. Clement married Carol Panayi. He had three children from his first wife and with Carol was the

stepfather A stepfather or stepdad is a non-biological male parent married to one's preexisting parent. A stepfather-in-law is a stepfather of one's spouse. Children from his spouse's previous unions are known as his stepchildren. Culture Though less com ...

of former Ontario

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

former federal cabinet minister and former federal leadership candidate

Tony Clement Tony Peter Clement (born January 27, 1961) is a Canadian former federal politician and former Member of Parliament for Parry Sound—Muskoka in Ontario. Before entering federal politics, Clement served as an Ontario cabinet minister, including ...

Politics

Clement's first political involvement was as a Trustee on the Niagara Falls School Board. In the 1971 provincial election, Clement ran as the Progressive Conservative candidate in the riding of

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...

beating

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

incumbent

George Bukator George Bukator (April 24, 1913 – May 2, 1987) was a Canadian politician and Ontario political figure. He represented Niagara Falls in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1958 to 1971 as a Liberal member. He served with the Niagara P ...

by 1,821 votes. In September 1972 he was named as Minister of Consumer and Commercial Relations. In January 1975, he was named as

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

and Provincial Secretary for Justice. In February 1975, he was also appointed Solicitor General when George Kerr resigned from cabinet due to an election donation scandal. In the 1975 election he was defeated by Liberal

Vince Kerrio Vincent George Kerrio (February 5, 1924 – October 30, 2009) was a businessperson and politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a Liberal from 1975 to 1990, and was a cabinet minister in the government ...

by 168 votes. Clement called for a recount and a margin of 172 was confirmed.

Cabinet posts

Later life

Clement was known as an excellent public speaker and often served as Master of Ceremonies at a number of public events—both political and charitable. Over the years he served on the boards of a number of charitable organizations including the Ontario branch of the Canadian Red Cross. In 1979, Clement was hired by Metro Trans-Public Advertising Ltd., a company that wanted to supply advertising for the

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and largest ...

. Later that same year he was appointed to the Toronto Police Services Board to study ways to increase minority hiring on the police force. In 1983, Clement was a director for

Crown Trust The Crown Trust Company was an Ontario-based firm that operated in most of Canada prior to its bankruptcy, along with several other trusts, in 1983. The bankruptcies occurred when a major Canadian recession drove down speculative real estate val ...

and Greymac Trust, two of seven Canadian financial institutions that collapsed that year, having made increasingly bad loans into a highly speculative real estate market during a period of rising inflation and interest rates. He was found not to have been involved and was cleared of wrongdoing. The Ontario government seized the Crown and Greymac assets to protect the depositors. This cost the government $1.2 billion ($ billion today). In 1988, he was named to the

Public Service Staff Relations Board The Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board (FPSLREB; , LCRTESPF) is an independent quasi-judicial tribunal that administers the collective bargaining and "grievance adjudication systems" in Canada's federal public service and ...

, a committee that adjudicates disputes between the Federal government and its employees. An accomplished acrobatic pilot, Clement made a trans-atlantic flight in a specially-outfitted Cessna and he served as the President of the St. Catharines Flying Club.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clement, John 1928 births 2014 deaths Attorneys General of Ontario Members of the Executive Council of Ontario People from Niagara Falls, Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs