Alan Pope
Encyclopedia
Alan William Pope is a former politician
in Ontario
, Canada
. He was a Progressive Conservative
member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
from 1977 to 1990, and served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Bill Davis
and Frank Miller
.
, and was educated at Waterloo Lutheran University and Osgoode Hall Law School
in Toronto
. He worked as a barrister and solicitor before entering politics. Pope served as an alderman in the northern city of Timmins
from 1973 to 1974.
, but lost to Bill Ferrier
of the NDP
by 1,292 votes. He ran again in the 1977 provincial election
, and defeated Ferrier by 2,276 votes.
on August 30, 1979.
Easily re-elected in the 1981 provincial election
, Pope was promoted again to Minister of Natural Resources on April 10, 1981. He served in this position for the remainder of the Davis administration's time in office. Pope was known for hating departmental bureaucracy, and took the initiative in opening several new provincial parks. He also made the controversial decision that mining, hunting and motorboats would be allowed on park grounds. In 1982, he decided that the MNR would not attempt to enforce jurisdiction over disputed rice cropland claimed by the Ardoch aboriginal group; to date, no subsequent Ontario government has attempted to claim the land.
, and was not a supporter of the party's Toronto-based establishment (commonly known as the "Big Blue Machine"). Pope was rather a populist
, and sought greater power for the party's neglected local branches in northern, eastern, and southwestern Ontario. In this sense, his position in the provincial Progressive Conservatives was similar to John Diefenbaker
's role in the federal party, a generation earlier.
's campaign to succeed Davis as party leader. Some regarded his presence in Miller's camp as unusual, given that Miller's supporters tended to be older figures from the party's right-wing. Pope nonetheless proved an effective campaigner for Miller, compiling much-needed polling data and devising strategies for Miller's supporters at the party convention. One strategy was to have some of Miller's delegates vote for the progressive Larry Grossman
on the second ballot, which resulted in the narrow elimination of the centrist Dennis Timbrell
(this was considered strategic voting as Timbrell was considered a greater threat than Grossman). Miller narrowly defeated Grossman on the third ballot to become party leader, and Pope was promoted to Minister of Health on February 8, 1985.
It was under Frank Miller's leadership, however, that the Progressive Conservative Party lost its 42-year grip on power. Miller was reduced to a fragile minority government
in the 1985 provincial election
, and proved unable to sustain his party in power. Pope was named Attorney General of Ontario in a post-election shuffle on May 17, 1985, but did little of significance before Miller's government was defeated on a motion of non-confidence in the house by the Liberals
and NDP. He resigned his portfolio on June 26, 1985, and moved into the opposition benches.
At the November leadership convention, he made a dramatic entrance by delivering a rousing speech surrounded by his "grass roots" delegates on the convention floor, rather from than the podium. This foreshadowed future leadership speeches by figures such as Jim Flaherty
. Pope also tried to portray himself as a unifying figure in the party, noting that the animosity between frontrunners Grossman and Dennis Timbrell
was threatening to tear the party asunder (one of his campaign buttons read, "Don't take sides, take Pope".) In spite of such efforts, he finished a weak third on the first ballot and was dropped from the race. Many expected that Pope would have given Timbrell a second-ballot victory by endorsing him; surprisingly Pope remained silent and allowed Grossman to defeat Timbrell by a mere 19 votes.
, and retained his seat. The Progressive Conservatives under Grossman were resoundingly defeated in this election, leaving Pope as one of only 16 Tory MPPs (out of 130 seats) in the parliament which followed.
Pope was not given a critic's portfolio in this parliament, and did not play a prominent role in the party's affairs. He decided not to run for the leadership again in 1990, and endorsed Dianne Cunningham
for the position. He did not campaign in the 1990 provincial election
.
's tenure as party leader, the two men were frequent adversaries in the Progressive Conservative Party after 1985. In 1997, Pope made headlines when he publicly criticized Premier Harris, accusing the government of demonizing teachers and supporting the teachers' strike against Harris's Bill 160 (the "Education Quality Improvement Act") which removed the ability of collective bargaining agreements to regulate working conditions for teachers, introduced teacher testing and allowed the government to increase class sizes and reduce preparation time.
In 2004, Pope chaired a committee looking into Timmins's involvement in the 2006 Ontario Games. As of 2003, he was acted as counsel for the law firm of Racicot, Maisonneuve, Labelle, Gosselin. He wrote a series of articles on the 2004 federal election
for the Sudbury Star newspaper, arguing that no party was adequately focused on issues of concern to Northern Ontario
.
In 2006, Pope wrote a report on the Kashechewan Crisis
, recommending that residents of the community be relocated to a new reserve
site near Timmins.
He is married with one son.
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He was a Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario , is a right-of-centre political party in Ontario, Canada. The party was known for many years as "Ontario's natural governing party." It has ruled the province for 80 of the years since Confederation, including an uninterrupted run from 1943 to 1985...
member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
Legislative Assembly of Ontario
The Legislative Assembly of Ontario , is the legislature of the Canadian province of Ontario, and is the second largest provincial legislature of Canada...
from 1977 to 1990, and served as a cabinet minister in the governments of Bill Davis
Bill Davis
William Grenville "Bill" Davis, was the 18th Premier of Ontario, Canada, from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the MPP for Peel in the 1959 provincial election where he was a backbencher in Leslie Frost's government. Under John Robarts, he was a cabinet minister overseeing the education...
and Frank Miller
Frank Miller (politician)
Frank Stuart Miller, was a Canadian politician, who served as the 19th Premier of Ontario for four months in 1985.-Early life and political career:...
.
Early years
Pope was raised in Northern OntarioNorthern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a region of the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron , the French River and Lake Nipissing. The region has a land area of 802,000 km2 and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it contains only about 6% of the population...
, and was educated at Waterloo Lutheran University and Osgoode Hall Law School
Osgoode Hall Law School
Osgoode Hall Law School is a Canadian law school, located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and affiliated with York University. Named after the first Chief Justice of Ontario, William Osgoode, the law school was established by The Law Society of Upper Canada in 1889 and was the only accredited law...
in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. He worked as a barrister and solicitor before entering politics. Pope served as an alderman in the northern city of Timmins
Timmins
Timmins is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada on the Mattagami River. At the time of the Canada 2006 Census, Timmins' population was 42,997...
from 1973 to 1974.
Provincial politics
He first ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1975 provincial electionOntario general election, 1975
The Ontario general election of 1975 was held on September 18, 1975, to elect the 125 members of the 30th Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....
, but lost to Bill Ferrier
Bill Ferrier
William Herman Ferrier was a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Cochrane South in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1967 to 1977 as a member of the Ontario New Democratic Party.-Background:...
of the NDP
Ontario New Democratic Party
The Ontario New Democratic Party or , formally known as New Democratic Party of Ontario, is a social democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. It is a provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party. It was formed in October 1961, a few months after the federal party. The ONDP had its...
by 1,292 votes. He ran again in the 1977 provincial election
Ontario general election, 1977
The Ontario general election of 1977 was held on June 9, 1977, to elect the 125 members of the 31st Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....
, and defeated Ferrier by 2,276 votes.
Cabinet
He was appointed as a parliamentary assistant in Davis's government in 1978, and was promoted to Minister without portfolioMinister without Portfolio
A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister that does not head a particular ministry...
on August 30, 1979.
Easily re-elected in the 1981 provincial election
Ontario general election, 1981
The Ontario general election of 1981 was held on March 19, 1981, to elect members of the 32nd Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada....
, Pope was promoted again to Minister of Natural Resources on April 10, 1981. He served in this position for the remainder of the Davis administration's time in office. Pope was known for hating departmental bureaucracy, and took the initiative in opening several new provincial parks. He also made the controversial decision that mining, hunting and motorboats would be allowed on park grounds. In 1982, he decided that the MNR would not attempt to enforce jurisdiction over disputed rice cropland claimed by the Ardoch aboriginal group; to date, no subsequent Ontario government has attempted to claim the land.
Political views
Pope's position in the Progressive Conservative Party was unusual. He supported the interventionist policies of the Davis government, and was sometimes considered to be on the progressive wing of the party. Despite this, he was not a Red ToryRed Tory
A red Tory is an adherent of a particular political philosophy, tradition, and disposition in Canada somewhat similar to the High Tory tradition in the United Kingdom; it is contrasted with "blue Tory". In Canada, the phenomenon of "red toryism" has fundamentally, if not exclusively, been found in...
, and was not a supporter of the party's Toronto-based establishment (commonly known as the "Big Blue Machine"). Pope was rather a populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
, and sought greater power for the party's neglected local branches in northern, eastern, and southwestern Ontario. In this sense, his position in the provincial Progressive Conservatives was similar to John Diefenbaker
John Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker, PC, CH, QC was the 13th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 21, 1957, to April 22, 1963...
's role in the federal party, a generation earlier.
Support for Frank Miller
In 1985, Pope was a prominent figure behind Frank MillerFrank Miller (politician)
Frank Stuart Miller, was a Canadian politician, who served as the 19th Premier of Ontario for four months in 1985.-Early life and political career:...
's campaign to succeed Davis as party leader. Some regarded his presence in Miller's camp as unusual, given that Miller's supporters tended to be older figures from the party's right-wing. Pope nonetheless proved an effective campaigner for Miller, compiling much-needed polling data and devising strategies for Miller's supporters at the party convention. One strategy was to have some of Miller's delegates vote for the progressive Larry Grossman
Larry Grossman
Lawrence "Larry" Sheldon Grossman was a politician in Ontario, Canada.-Early years:Born in Toronto, Grossman was the son of Allan Grossman, who had represented a downtown Toronto riding in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario for twenty years after defeating Ontario's last Communist Member of...
on the second ballot, which resulted in the narrow elimination of the centrist Dennis Timbrell
Dennis Timbrell
Dennis Roy Timbrell is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1971 to 1987, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of William Davis and Frank Miller.-Early life and career:...
(this was considered strategic voting as Timbrell was considered a greater threat than Grossman). Miller narrowly defeated Grossman on the third ballot to become party leader, and Pope was promoted to Minister of Health on February 8, 1985.
It was under Frank Miller's leadership, however, that the Progressive Conservative Party lost its 42-year grip on power. Miller was reduced to a fragile minority government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
in the 1985 provincial election
Ontario general election, 1985
The Ontario general election of 1985 was held on May 2, 1985, to elect members of the 33rd Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada...
, and proved unable to sustain his party in power. Pope was named Attorney General of Ontario in a post-election shuffle on May 17, 1985, but did little of significance before Miller's government was defeated on a motion of non-confidence in the house by the Liberals
Ontario Liberal Party
The Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...
and NDP. He resigned his portfolio on June 26, 1985, and moved into the opposition benches.
Leadership campaign
Pope ran to succeed Miller as Tory leader in the November 1985 Progressive Conservative leadership convention. His campaign was weaker than expected, however, as many considered Miller's rightward shift a key factor in the party losing power. Furthermore, one of his campaign staff was caught polling party members at to whether religion would make a difference in the leadership race, which was seen by some as a reference to Larry Grossman's Jewish background, and Pope made a public apology. He also broke with John Thompson, his first campaign manager, fairly early in the race.At the November leadership convention, he made a dramatic entrance by delivering a rousing speech surrounded by his "grass roots" delegates on the convention floor, rather from than the podium. This foreshadowed future leadership speeches by figures such as Jim Flaherty
Jim Flaherty
James Michael "Jim" Flaherty, PC, MP is Canada's Minister of Finance and he has also served as Ontario's Minister of Finance. From 1995 until 2005, he was the Member of Provincial Parliament for Whitby—Ajax, and a member of the Progressive Conservative Party caucus...
. Pope also tried to portray himself as a unifying figure in the party, noting that the animosity between frontrunners Grossman and Dennis Timbrell
Dennis Timbrell
Dennis Roy Timbrell is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1971 to 1987, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of William Davis and Frank Miller.-Early life and career:...
was threatening to tear the party asunder (one of his campaign buttons read, "Don't take sides, take Pope".) In spite of such efforts, he finished a weak third on the first ballot and was dropped from the race. Many expected that Pope would have given Timbrell a second-ballot victory by endorsing him; surprisingly Pope remained silent and allowed Grossman to defeat Timbrell by a mere 19 votes.
Last years in the legislature
Pope had a poor relationship with Grossman, and was not given a critic's portfolio after the convention. He resumed his law practice in Timmins while still an MPP, and spent two days a week away from the legislature. He nonetheless ran for re-election in the 1987 provincial electionOntario general election, 1987
The Ontario general election of 1987 was held on September 10, 1987, to elect members of the 34th Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada.The governing Ontario Liberal Party, led by David Peterson, was returned to power with a large majority...
, and retained his seat. The Progressive Conservatives under Grossman were resoundingly defeated in this election, leaving Pope as one of only 16 Tory MPPs (out of 130 seats) in the parliament which followed.
Pope was not given a critic's portfolio in this parliament, and did not play a prominent role in the party's affairs. He decided not to run for the leadership again in 1990, and endorsed Dianne Cunningham
Dianne Cunningham
Dianne Cunningham is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1988 to 2003, and a cabinet minister in the governments of Mike Harris and Ernie Eves....
for the position. He did not campaign in the 1990 provincial election
Ontario general election, 1990
The Ontario general election of 1990 was held on September 6, 1990, to elect members of the 35th Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario, Canada....
.
Pope and Mike Harris
Although Pope's anti-establishment rhetoric and populism foreshadowed Mike HarrisMike Harris
Michael Deane "Mike" Harris was the 22nd Premier of Ontario from June 26, 1995 to April 15, 2002. He is most noted for the "Common Sense Revolution", his Progressive Conservative government's program of deficit reduction in combination with lower taxes and cuts to government...
's tenure as party leader, the two men were frequent adversaries in the Progressive Conservative Party after 1985. In 1997, Pope made headlines when he publicly criticized Premier Harris, accusing the government of demonizing teachers and supporting the teachers' strike against Harris's Bill 160 (the "Education Quality Improvement Act") which removed the ability of collective bargaining agreements to regulate working conditions for teachers, introduced teacher testing and allowed the government to increase class sizes and reduce preparation time.
Recent years
In 1999, Pope was part of a commission examining land claims by the Caldwell First Nation in the Chatham—Kent region of southwestern Ontario. The commission reported serious concerns with the accord that was negotiated in secret between this group and the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.In 2004, Pope chaired a committee looking into Timmins's involvement in the 2006 Ontario Games. As of 2003, he was acted as counsel for the law firm of Racicot, Maisonneuve, Labelle, Gosselin. He wrote a series of articles on the 2004 federal election
Canadian federal election, 2004
The Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...
for the Sudbury Star newspaper, arguing that no party was adequately focused on issues of concern to Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a region of the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron , the French River and Lake Nipissing. The region has a land area of 802,000 km2 and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it contains only about 6% of the population...
.
In 2006, Pope wrote a report on the Kashechewan Crisis
Kashechewan First Nation
The Kashechewan First Nation is a Cree First Nation located near James Bay in Northern Ontario, Canada. The community is located on the northern shore of the Albany River. Kashechewan First Nation is one of two communities that were established from Old Fort Albany in the 1950s...
, recommending that residents of the community be relocated to a new reserve
Indian reserve
In Canada, an Indian reserve is specified by the Indian Act as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." The Act also specifies that land reserved for the use and benefit of a band which is not...
site near Timmins.
He is married with one son.