Murray John Elston (born October 8, 1949) is a former 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 C ...
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. He was a
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 ...
member of the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1981 to 1994 who represented the central Ontario ridings of
Huron—Bruce
Huron—Bruce (formerly known as Huron and Huron—Middlesex) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1953.
History
The riding was created in 1952 from parts of Hur ...
and
Bruce
The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been ...
. He was a senior
cabinet minister in the government of
David Peterson
David Robert Peterson (born December 28, 1943) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 20th premier of Ontario from 1985 to 1990. He was the first Liberal officeholder in 42 years, ending the so-called Tory dynasty.
Backgr ...
. He briefly served as interim leader of the Liberal Party from July to November 1991.
Background
Elston was educated at the
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...
, receiving a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
degree and a law degree.
He practised law, working for the firm of Crawford, Mill Davies & Elston.
Politics
Elston was elected to the Ontario legislature in the
1981 provincial election defeating
Progressive Conservative Gary Harron by 224 votes in the rural, southwestern constituency of
Huron—Bruce
Huron—Bruce (formerly known as Huron and Huron—Middlesex) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1953.
History
The riding was created in 1952 from parts of Hur ...
.
The Progressive Conservatives won a majority government under
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 ...
in this election, and Elston sat on the opposition benches for the next four years.
He was re-elected in the
1985 election.
After the Miller government failed on a vote of no confidence, The Liberals formed a minority government with the support of the New Democratic Party and Elston was appointed to the high-profile position of
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 ...
.
In this role, he was at the centre of the government's fight against extra-billing by doctors, an issue the government won after withstanding the province's first doctors'
strike
Strike may refer to:
People
* Strike (surname)
Physical confrontation or removal
*Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm
*Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...
. Elston also announced subsidies for residents of
Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Pro ...
who needed to travel south for medical care.
The Liberals were re-elected with a landslide majority in the
1987 provincial election, and Elston was returned by a significant majority in the redistributed riding of
Bruce
The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been ...
.
In the
cabinet shuffle that followed on September 29, 1987, Elston was appointed
Chair of the Management Board of Cabinet.
He was also appointed Minister of Financial Institutions on August 16, 1988.
In the
1990 Ontario election, the Liberals were defeated by the
New Democratic Party under
Bob Rae. Many high-profile Liberals lost their seats, though Elston was returned in Bruce by a comfortable if reduced margin. Peterson, who had lost his own seat on election night, resigned immediately as party leader.
Cabinet positions
Interim leader and convention
The Liberals initially chose
Robert Nixon as their interim leader, but he resigned on July 31, 1991 to accept a federal appointment. Elston was then chosen as interim leader in Nixon's place, though his time in this position was brief. He declared himself a candidate in the race to become the party's permanent leader, and accordingly resigned as interim leader on November 19, 1991.
Jim Bradley took his place until the leadership convention.
Elston quickly became the favourite to win the
1992 race, gaining endorsements from such high-profile figures as Peterson,
Ian Scott, and
Sheila Copps
Sheila Maureen Copps (born November 27, 1952) is a former Canadian politician who also served as the sixth deputy prime minister of Canada from November 4, 1993, to April 30, 1996, and June 19, 1996, to June 11, 1997. Her father, Victor Copps, ...
. He led voting for the first four ballots, but lost to
Lyn McLeod
Lyn McLeod (born ) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1987 to 2003. McLeod was a cabinet minister in the Liberal government of David Peterson from 1987 to 1990, and served as leader ...
on the fifth and final ballot by only nine votes. The number of spoiled ballots from supporters of third-place candidate
Greg Sorbara
Gregory Samuel Sorbara (born September 4, 1946) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1985 to 1995, and again from 2001 to 2012 who represented ridings north of Toronto in ...
was greater than McLeod's margin of victory. Some political observers speculated that Elston appeared too much like a holdover from the Peterson era, as a time when the Liberal Party wanted to present a new image to voters.
Opposition
Elston remained in the legislature for two more years, and served as Opposition
House Leader
{{Politics of Canada
In Canada, each political party with representation in the House of Commons has a House Leader who is a front bench Member of Parliament (MP) and an expert in parliamentary procedure. The same representation is found in the pr ...
before resigning as an MPP on October 31, 1994 to enter the private sector. He was touted as McLeod's likely replacement when she resigned as Liberal leader following a poor performance in the
1995 provincial election but he declined to enter the race preferring to remain out of politics. In 1996, he was the most prominent supporter of
Dalton McGuinty
Dalton James Patrick McGuinty Jr. (born July 19, 1955) is a former Canadian politician who served as the 24th premier of Ontario from 2003 to 2013. He was the first Liberal leader to win two majority governments since Mitchell Hepburn nea ...
's ultimately successful bid to win the party's leadership.
After politics
From November 1994 until 1997, Elston was president of the Ontario Interlink Industrial Park.
[ From January to October 1998, he worked for Engergreen Solutions Group.][ In November 1998, Elston was appointed president of Canada's Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (Rx&D).][
From 2004 to 2009, Elston was president of the Canadian Nuclear Association,] in order to lobby the Premier's office on behalf of the nuclear industry. As a former Liberal MPP, he had represented the riding of Huron-Bruce, which is home to the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station
Bruce Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power station located on the eastern shore of Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada. It occupies 932 ha (2300 acres) of land. The facility derives its name from Bruce Township, the local municipality when ...
. Elston's lobbying was highly successful: on June 13, 2006, the McGuinty government announcement its commitment to rebuild all of Ontario's ageing nuclear stations as well as the construction of new reactors. He served as vice-president of corporate affairs for Bruce Power
Bruce Power Limited Partnership is a Canadian business partnership composed of several corporations. It exists (as of 2015) as a partnership between TC Energy (31.6%), BPC Generation Infrastructure Trust (61.4%), the Power Workers Union (4%) and ...
from 2009 until 2011.[
]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elston, Murray
1949 births
Leaders of the Ontario Liberal Party
Living people
Members of the Executive Council of Ontario
Ontario Liberal Party MPPs
University of Western Ontario alumni
Western Law School alumni
People from Wingham, Ontario