Lawrence David O'Brien (March 31, 1951 – December 16, 2004) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

politician. O’Brien represented

Labrador Labrador () is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its populatio ...

in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

as a Liberal from 1996 until his death in 2004. Born in

L'Anse-au-Loup L'Anse-au-Loup (Town) is located on the banks of L'Anse-au-Loup Brook and the Strait of Belle Isle, in Newfoundland and Labrador province, Canada. History In Quebec-Labrador Peninsula, on the north shore of the Strait of Belle Isle, radiocarbon ...

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...

, O’Brien was an adult education instructor, a public servant, a teacher, and from 1985 to 1996, and a town councillor in

Happy Valley-Goose Bay Happy Valley-Goose Bay (Inuit: ''Vâli'') is a town in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Located in central Labrador on the coast of Lake Melville and the Churchill River, Happy Valley-Goose Bay is the largest population centre ...

. He served as Parliamentary Secretary to the

Minister of Fisheries and Oceans The minister of fisheries () is the minister of the Crown responsible for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG). The minister is a member of the King's Privy Council for Canada and the Canadian Cabinet ...

from 1999 to 2001. He was a strong supporter of a 2003 constitutional amendment which officially changed the name of the province of Newfoundland to "

". O'Brien was a candidate for the provincial Liberal nomination in the district of Cartwright-L'anse au Clair in 1996. After his loss in that race, he entered, and won, the federal Liberal nomination for the by-election in the riding of Labrador, vacated by the appointment of Bill Rompkey to the Senate. O'Brien was elected in the federal by-election on March 25, 1996, and re-elected in the general elections of 1997, 2000, and 2004. He was diagnosed with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

in 1998 and died on December 16, 2004, in St. John's,

. On January 31, 2005, the members of the House of Commons paid respects to him and his career.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Lawrence 1951 births 2004 deaths Liberal Party of Canada MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Newfoundland and Labrador Métis politicians Newfoundland and Labrador municipal councillors Deaths from cancer in Newfoundland and Labrador Canadian Métis people People from Happy Valley-Goose Bay Indigenous Members of the House of Commons of Canada 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada