Jack Douglas Scowen was a Progressive Conservative party

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....

 member of the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

. He was born in Limerick, Saskatchewan

Limerick, Saskatchewan

Limerick is a small village in southwest Saskatchewan, Canada. The population of Limerick is approximately 150. It is about 150 km north of the US border and a few km from the towns of Lafleche and Gravelbourg. The village is named after the Irish city of Limerick.-External links:*****...

 and became a farmer and seed grower by career.

He was elected at Mackenzie

Mackenzie (electoral district)

Mackenzie was a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1904 to 1997.This riding was created in 1903, when Saskatchewan was still a part of the Northwest Territories...

 riding in the 1984 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1984

The Canadian federal election of 1984 was held on September 4 of that year to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 33rd Parliament of Canada...

, thus he served in the 33rd Canadian Parliament

33rd Canadian Parliament

The 33rd Canadian Parliament was in session from November 5, 1984 until October 1, 1988. The membership was set by the 1984 federal election on September 4, 1984, and it only changed slightly due to resignations and by-elections prior to being dissolved before the 1988 election.It was controlled...

. He was defeated in the 1988 federal election

Canadian federal election, 1988

The Canadian federal election of 1988 was held November 21, 1988, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 34th Parliament of Canada. It was an election largely fought on a single issue: the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement ....

 by Vic Althouse of the New Democratic Party

New Democratic Party

The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...

.

In 1988, Scowen and fellow Progressive Conservative member Ronald Stewart

Ronald Stewart

Ronald Alexander Stewart was a Progressive Conservative party member of the Canadian House of Commons...

 openly disagreed with their party leader, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney

Brian Mulroney

Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...

, when the government was supporting efforts to translate Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

 provincial legislation into French in response to a Supreme Court of Canada

Supreme Court of Canada

The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...

 ruling. Scowen and Stewart believed such efforts for the province's 23,000 Fransaskois

Fransaskois

Fransaskois are francophones or French Canadians living in the Prairie province of Saskatchewan. The term franco-saskatchewanian may also be used on occasion, although in practice it is rare due to its length and unwieldiness.-Population:...

 would be expensive and unnecessary.

Scowen was based in Nipawin, Saskatchewan

Nipawin, Saskatchewan

There is, however, some dispute regarding the current population of Nipawin, with Tourism Saskatchewan's Saskatchewan Discovery Guide 2010 claiming a population of 5,074, which actually places Nipawin over the population threshold for applying for city status....

when he died in 2001.