Raymond John Funk was a Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) in 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...

 from 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....

. He represented Prince Albert—Churchill River

Prince Albert—Churchill River

Prince Albert—Churchill River was a federal electoral district in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1988 to 1997....

 and was a member 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...

. Funk won his seat in the 1988 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 ....

. He easily defeated Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

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....

 candidate J.J. Cennon with 17,915 votes (almost 9,000 more than Cennon).

As a politician, Funk was heavily involved in peace issues. Funk addressed the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 in 1990 on East Timor

East Timor

The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...

. He was only the second Canadian MP to do sohttp://peacemagazine.org/archive/v07n1p20.htm. In 1993, Funk tabled C-414, a bill that would have established a "Peace Fund" for taxpayers who did not want their money going to the military]http://perc.ca/PEN/1993-05/peace-trust.html. The bill "died on the order paper" when the House of Commons was dissolved two days before debate was set to begin on the billhttp://www.mennonitechurch.ca/programs/peace/peacetax/index.htm.

Funk made an unsuccessful run in 1997 to return to the House of Commons. Funk came in second in the new riding of Prince Albert

Prince Albert (electoral district)

Prince Albert is a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1908 to 1988, and since 1997.-Geography:...

. He received 10,418 votes (31.7%), 2,090 votes behind Reform Party

Reform Party of Canada

The Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a populist party....

 candidate Derek Konrad. He ran again in Churchill River in the 2000 election

Canadian federal election, 2000

The 2000 Canadian federal election was held on November 27, 2000, to elect 301 Members of Parliament of the Canadian House of Commons of the 37th Parliament of Canada....

. He was again unsuccessful, coming in third with 5,141 votes. Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 Rick Laliberte

Rick Laliberte

Rick Laliberte is a former Canadian Member of Parliament for the riding of Churchill River, a riding that encompasses the northern half of the province of Saskatchewan....

 won the seat.

In 2001, Funk supported Buckley Belanger

Buckley Belanger

Buckley Harold Belanger is a Canadian provincial politician. He is currently the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan for the constituency of Athabasca....

 in his unsuccessful run to lead the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party

Saskatchewan New Democratic Party

The Saskatchewan New Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It currently forms the official opposition, but has been a dominant force in Saskatchewan politics since the 1940s...

http://business.accesscomm.ca/bruce.weild/www.buckleybelanger.com/contact.htm. He also endorsed Bill Blaikie

Bill Blaikie

William Alexander "Bill" Blaikie, PC is a Canadian politician. He has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba since April 2009, representing the Winnipeg division of Elmwood as a member of the New Democratic Party of Manitoba, and Minister of Conservation and Government House Leader...

 the NDP leadership election

New Democratic Party leadership election, 2003

The New Democratic Party leadership election of 2003 was held to replace New Democratic Party of Canada leader Alexa McDonough, after her retirement...

 in 2003. Funk now is a managing partner of the Spruce River Research Farm near Prince Albert

Prince Albert, Saskatchewan

Prince Albert is the third-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is situated in the centre of the province on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The city is known as the "Gateway to the North" because it is the last major centre along the route to the resources of northern Saskatchewan...

, Saskatchewanhttp://www.saskforestcentre.ca/index.php?f=news&item=9&from=.
In 2005, he was a recipient of the Saskatchewan Centennial Medal.

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