Joseph Fred Hueglin (February 7, 1937 – July 5, 2022) was a Canadian politician who was a

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 o ...

and a founder of the

Progressive Canadian Party The Progressive Canadian Party (PC Party) (french: Parti progressiste canadien) was a minor centre-right federal political party in Canada. It was registered with Elections Canada, the government's election agency, on March 29, 2004. Under prov ...

. Born in Stratford, Ontario, Hueglin was elected to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

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 Fall ...

as a member of the

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC; french: Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada) was a centre-right federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003. From Canadian Confederation in 1867 until 1942, the ...

(PC). In 1974 Hueglin was defeated by the

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 ...

candidate. Within the Progressive Conservative Party, Hueglin was, along with

David Orchard David Orchard (born June 28, 1950) is a Canadian author and political figure, member of the Liberal Party of Canada, who was the Liberal Party candidate for the Saskatchewan riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River in the 2008 federal ...

, among the most vocal opponents of the 2003 merger of Canada's two prominent right-wing parties, the Progressive Conservatives and the

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed ...

, into the Conservative Party of Canada. He expressed discomfort over the way the merger took place - which involved PC leader

Peter MacKay Peter Gordon MacKay (born September 27, 1965) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2015 and has served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General (2013–2015), Minister of National Defence (2007� ...

breaking an anti-merger promise he had made while campaigning to be the party leader. Hueglin also expressed discomfort over the "

neoconservative Neoconservatism is a political movement that began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist foreign policy of the Democratic Party and with the growing New Left and count ...

" aspects of Alliance policy, which he feared might dominate the policies of the new party. In 2004, Hueglin became a lead organizer for the

, which he described as a

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to Left-w ...

party.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hueglin, Joe 1937 births 2022 deaths Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs People from Stratford, Ontario Progressive Canadian Party politicians Canadian political party founders