Howard Nicholas Sheppard (October 6, 1933—) is a former politician 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 served in 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 1981 to 1987, as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party

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...

.

Sheppard was born in Codrington, Ontario, and educated at Campbellford

Campbellford, Ontario

Campbellford is a small town in Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada, in the municipality of Trent Hills.Located at , Campbellford lies approximately midway between Toronto and Ottawa. It is situated on both the Trent-Severn Waterway and the Trans Canada Trail. It can be reached from Highway...

 District High School. He worked as a farmer, and began his career in municipal politics in the 1960s. Sheppard served on the Northumberland County

Northumberland County, Ontario

Northumberland County is situated on the north shore of Lake Ontario, in central Ontario, Canada. It is located east of Durham County , west of Hastings, southeast of Kawartha Lakes and south of Peterborough County. The county seat is Cobourg...

 Council, was a school trustee, and served as director of the Milk Marketing Board.

He was first elected to the Ontario legislature 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....

, defeating Liberal

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...

 candidate William Wyatt

William Wyatt

William Wyatt was a pioneer settler and philanthropist in Australia.-Early life:Wyatt was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, the son of Richard Wyatt. He was apprenticed at 16 years of age to a Plymouth surgeon, Thomas Stewart. Wyatt continued to study medicine and obtained the qualification of...

 by 3,616 votes in Northumberland

Northumberland (Ontario electoral district)

Northumberland was a federal and provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1917 to 1968 and from 1987 to 2003, ad in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1999 to 2007....

. He served in the legislature as a backbencher supporter of the 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:...

 administrations. He was re-elected in the 1985 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...

, defeating Liberal Joan Fawcett

Joan Fawcett

Joan M. Fawcett is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1987 to 1995....

 by 1,850 votes.

The Progressive Conservatives were defeated in the legislature soon after this election, and Sheppard served for two years as an opposition member. He lost to Joan Fawcett by 1,326 votes in the 1987 election

Ontario 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...

.

Sheppard served as reeve of Alnwick from 1994 to 2000, and supported a single-tier municipality for Northumberland. He lost his bid for re-election in 2000. The following year, he was appointed by the provincial government of Mike Harris

Mike 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...

to the board of health for the Haliburton, Kawartha and Pine Ridge District Health Unit.