Lloyd Axworthy

Lloyd Norman Axworthy (born December 21, 1939) is a Canadian politician, elder statesman and academic. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. Following his retirement from parliament, he served as president and vice-chancellor of the University of Winnipeg from 2004 to 2014 and as chancellor of St. Paul's University College (a constituent institution of the University of Waterloo). He is currently the Chair of the World Refugee & Migration Council.

Biography

Axworthy was born in North Battleford, Saskatchewan to parents Norman and Gwen Axworthy and into a family with strong United Church roots, and received his BA from United College, a Winnipeg-based Bible school, in 1961. He is the older brother of Tom Axworthy, Robert Axworthy (former Manitoba Liberal Party leadership candidate). He received his Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University in 1972 after completing a doctoral dissertation titled "The task force on housing and urban development: a study of democratic decision making in Canada." He returned to Canada to teach at the University of Manitoba. At the latter, he also became the director of the Institute of Urban Affairs.

Early political career

Axworthy became involved in politics during the 1950s, becoming a member of the Liberal Party after attending a speech by Lester B. Pearson. He briefly aligned himself with the New Democratic Party (NDP) in the 1960s when Pearson, as federal opposition leader, called for American Bomarc nuclear warheads to be allowed on Canadian soil. He soon returned to the Liberal fold, however, and worked as an executive assistant for John Turner; he supported Turner's bid to become party leader at the 1968 leadership convention.

Axworthy ran for the party in Winnipeg North Centre in the 1968 election, finishing second against veteran NDP Member of Parliament (MP) Stanley Knowles. He first ran for the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in the 1966 election, placing second to Progressive Conservative Douglas Stanes in St. James. In the 1973 election, he was elected as a Manitoba Liberal in Fort Rouge, He was re-elected in the 1977 election, and was the only Liberal in the legislature from 1977 to 1979.

Federal government

He resigned from the Manitoba legislature on April 6, 1979, to run for the federal House of Commons, and in the 1979 election narrowly defeated former provincial PC leader Sidney Spivak in Winnipeg—Fort Garry. He was re-elected in the 1980 election, becoming the only Liberal MP west of Ontario. He was promoted to cabinet under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, serving as Minister of Employment and Immigration, and then as Minister of Transport.

In the Liberal defeat in the 1984 election, Axworthy was one of only two Liberals west of Ontario to be elected (the other being then Liberal leader John Turner). Axworthy played a role in opposition, supporting tough on crime policies, but also supporting fiscal conservatism by critiquing the fiscal taxation policy of Brian Mulroney. He was an especially vocal critic of the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement.

When the Liberals returned to power in 1993 under Jean Chrétien, Axworthy became a Cabinet minister. After the election, he was given responsibility for the Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), and launched changes in employment insurance. Although his main interest was urban renewal, in a 1996 cabinet shuffle, he became Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In February 1999 and April 2000, Axworthy was President of the United Nations Security Council with Canada's Ambassador to the UN Robert Fowler. In April 2000, Axworthy supported the highly controversial effort to reduce the sanction against Iraq, under the regime of Saddam Hussein, citing a humanitarian explanation "to avoid making ordinary citizens pay for the actions of their leaders". Axworthy clashed with the US government on this issue, particularly over the lack of alternative options to deter the regime from additional aggression. In 2000, he initiated the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty that led to the UN policy of Responsibility to Protect.

He retired from politics in 2000.

Honours and awards

In 1997, Axworthy was nominated by United States Senator Patrick Leahy to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on banning land mines. He did not win, but was thanked by the recipients, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, as having been instrumental in their effort. Critics, however, viewed Axworthy's land mine campaign and the involvement of political NGOs as counter-productive, since many key nations, including the US, Russia and China did not join.

In 1998, he was one of the two winners of the North–South Prize. In 2003, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

On October 15, 2012, Elder, Dr. Tobasonakwut Kinew and, Dr. Phil Fontaine, honoured Axworthy – Waapshki Pinaysee Inini, Free Range Frog Man, at a sacred Pipe Ceremony. Axworthy was recognized for his commitment to creating an inclusive learning experience that reflects Indigenous cultures and traditions at UWinnipeg. The ceremony was led by Anishinaabe Elder Fred Kelly and musician and broadcaster Wab Kinew