John Patrick Nowlan (10 November 1931 – 25 April 2020) was a Canadian politician from Nova Scotia. Nowlan served as a Progressive Conservative

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for the riding of Annapolis Valley—Hants from 1965 to 1993.

Early life

Born in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Nowlan was the son of

Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electio ...

-era Minister of Finance

George Nowlan George Clyde Nowlan, (14 August 1898 – 31 May 1965) was a Canadian Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister. A member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, he served from 9 August 1962–21 April 1963 as the Minister of Fi ...

. Nowlan attended

Acadia University Acadia University is a public, predominantly undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some graduate programs at the master's level and one at the doctoral level. The enabling legislation consists of the Acadia ...

in his hometown, graduating with 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 years ...

in 1952. He then attended

Dalhousie Law School , mottoeng = "Law is the source of light" , endowment = , staff = , faculty = 119 , dean = Camille Cameron , head_label = , head = , doctoral = , students = 500 , city ...

, graduating in 1955.

Political career

Nowlan was first elected as a Member of Parliament in 1965 serving the riding of Annapolis Valley. In 1966, when the Conservatives opposed the Liberal government's legislation to end a national railway strike, Nowlan broke with the party to vote in favour of the legislation. Nowlan was an unsuccessful candidate at the 1976 Progressive Conservative leadership convention, running as a

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

candidate. In November 1990, Nowlan resigned from the

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

caucus A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...

, citing his opposition to the

Mulroney Mulroney is a surname of Irish origin. Notable people with the surname include: * Mulroney family **Brian Mulroney (born 1939), Progressive Conservative Prime Minister of Canada 1984–1993 *** Mila Mulroney (born 1953), wife of Brian Mulroney *** ...

government's failed

Meech Lake Accord The Meech Lake Accord (french: Accord du lac Meech) was a series of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and all 10 Canadian provincial premiers. It was intended to persuade the gove ...

and several other issues. Nowlan sat as an "Independent Progressive Conservative" until the 1993 federal election. Nowlan ran as an independent in the 1993 election, finishing in third place behind the Liberal and Progressive Conservative candidates and receiving 19.40% of the vote.

Death

Nowlan died on 25 April 2020, aged 88.

Personal life

Pat was married to Cynthia Nowlan, an entrepreneur who started a store in Ottawa called "The Pepper Pot". The couple had four children and six grandchildren.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nowlan, Pat 1931 births 2020 deaths Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Nova Scotia Independent MPs in the Canadian House of Commons Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidates