Reginald Stackhouse
Encyclopedia
Reginald Francis Stackhouse (born April 30, 1925) is a Canadian
educator and former politician. He served in the Canadian House of Commons
from 1972 to 1974 and from 1984 to 1988 as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party
.
Stackhouse was born in Toronto
, Ontario
, and educated at the University of Toronto
, Wycliffe College
and Yale University
. He holds Ph.D.
and Th.D.
degrees, and has practised as an Anglican priest. Stackhouse was a member of the Scarborough
Board of Education from 1965 to 1972, served on the Canadian Council of Regents from 1969 to 1972, and was a founding board member of Centennial College. He campaigned for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
in the 1967 provincial election
as a candidate of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
in Scarborough West
, and finished second against future New Democratic Party leader Stephen Lewis
.
He was first elected to the House of Commons in the 1972 federal election
, narrowly defeating Liberal
incumbent Martin O'Connell
in Scarborough East
. The Liberal Party won a narrow minority government
in this election, and Stackhouse served as an opposition Member of Parliament
(MP) for the next two years. He was not a candidate in the 1974 campaign
, and served as principal of Wycliffe College from 1975 to 1985.
Stackhouse was returned to the House of Commons in the 1984 election
, defeating Liberal incumbent David Weatherhead
by nearly 5,000 votes in Scarborough West. The Progressive Conservatives won a landslide majority government
in this election under Brian Mulroney
's leadership, and Stackhouse served as a government backbencher for the next four years. In 1988, he urged a strong Canadian protest against the threatened arrest of Anglican Bishop
Desmond Tutu
in South Africa
(Toronto Star, 6 September 1988).
He was narrowly defeated in the 1988 election
, losing to Liberal challenger Tom Wappel
by 440 votes. During this campaign, members of the group Campaign Life distributed leaflets attacking Stackhouse as a "babykiller" because he supported abortion
in some circumstances (Toronto Star, 4 July 1988). He described this attack as "disgusting and reproachful", adding "That kind of personal attack by design has no part in a democracy" (Toronto Star, 27 December 1988). The Campaign Life campaign had endorsed Wappel, who opposes abortion under all circumstances.
Stackhouse returned to teaching theology and philosophy after leaving parliament. He also served as president of the Canadian National Exhibition Association after leaving parliament (Toronto Star, 25 June 1991), and was appointed to a term on the Canadian Human Rights Commission
in 1990 (Globe and Mail, 24 July 1990).
He attempted a returned to parliament in the 1993 election
, but finished third against Wappel with 5,664 votes (14.45%) amid a general decline in support for his party. In the buildup to the 1993 campaign, he called for the abolition of the Canadian Senate
(Globe and Mail, 25 June 1993).
Stackhouse is now a professor at the University of Toronto. In 2004, he announced his plans to publish a work entitled The Coming Age Revolution, challenging traditional notions of retirement
(Globe and Mail, 28 February 2004).
In 2011, he was made a Member of the Order of Ontario
.
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...
educator and former politician. He served 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 1972 to 1974 and from 1984 to 1988 as a member of the 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....
.
Stackhouse was born 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...
, 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....
, and educated at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, Wycliffe College
Wycliffe College
Wycliffe College is an Anglican Church of Canada seminary federated with the University of Toronto. It is evangelical and Low church in orientation. On the other hand, the University of Toronto's other Anglican college, the University of Trinity College is Anglo-Catholic in outlook. While being an...
and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. He holds Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
and Th.D.
Doctor of Theology
Doctor of Theology is a terminal academic degree in theology. It is a research degree that is considered by the U.S. National Science Foundation to be the equivalent of a Doctor of Philosophy....
degrees, and has practised as an Anglican priest. Stackhouse was a member of the Scarborough
Scarborough, Ontario
Scarborough is a dissolved municipality within the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it comprises the eastern part of Toronto. It is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the west by Victoria Park Avenue, on the north by Steeles Avenue East, and on the east by the Rouge River...
Board of Education from 1965 to 1972, served on the Canadian Council of Regents from 1969 to 1972, and was a founding board member of Centennial College. He campaigned for 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...
in the 1967 provincial election
Ontario general election, 1967
The Ontario general election of 1967 was held on October 17, 1967, to elect the 117 members of the 28th Legislative Assembly of Ontario of the Province of Ontario, Canada....
as a candidate of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
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...
in Scarborough West
Scarborough West
Scarborough West was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commonsfrom 1968 to 1997. It was located in the province of Ontario...
, and finished second against future New Democratic Party leader Stephen Lewis
Stephen Lewis
Stephen Henry Lewis, is a Canadian politician, broadcaster and diplomat. He was the leader of the social democratic Ontario New Democratic Party for most of the 1970s. During many of the those years as leader, his father David Lewis was simultaneously the leader of the Federal New Democratic Party...
.
He was first elected to the House of Commons in the 1972 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1972
The Canadian federal election of 1972 was held on October 30, 1972 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 29th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in a slim victory for the governing Liberal Party, which won 109 seats, compared to 107 seats for the opposition Progressive...
, narrowly defeating 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...
incumbent Martin O'Connell
Martin O'Connell (Canadian politician)
Martin Patrick O'Connell, PC was a Canadian politician.Born in Victoria, British Columbia, he received a Bachelor of Arts from Queen's University. During World War II, he was a Captain in the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps...
in Scarborough East
Scarborough East
Scarborough East was a Canadian electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1968 to 2003, and was represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to 2007, and on Toronto City Council....
. The Liberal Party won a narrow 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 this election, and Stackhouse served as an opposition 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) for the next two years. He was not a candidate in the 1974 campaign
Canadian federal election, 1974
The Canadian federal election of 1974 was held on July 8, 1974 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 30th Parliament of Canada. The governing Liberal Party won its first majority government since 1968, and gave Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau his third term...
, and served as principal of Wycliffe College from 1975 to 1985.
Stackhouse was returned to the House of Commons in the 1984 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...
, defeating Liberal incumbent David Weatherhead
David Weatherhead
David Bennington Weatherhead was a Liberal party member of the Canadian House of Commons. He was a lawyer and barrister by career....
by nearly 5,000 votes in Scarborough West. The Progressive Conservatives won a landslide majority government
Majority government
A majority government is when the governing party has an absolute majority of seats in the legislature or parliament in a parliamentary system. This is as opposed to a minority government, where even the largest party wins only a plurality of seats and thus must constantly bargain for support from...
in this election under 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...
's leadership, and Stackhouse served as a government backbencher for the next four years. In 1988, he urged a strong Canadian protest against the threatened arrest of Anglican Bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...
in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
(Toronto Star, 6 September 1988).
He was narrowly defeated 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 ....
, losing to Liberal challenger Tom Wappel
Tom Wappel
Thomas William "Tom" Wappel is a Canadian politician. He was a Liberal member of the House of Commons from 1988 to 2008, representing the Toronto riding of Scarborough West and its successor riding of Scarborough Southwest. He did not seek re-election in the 2008 general election.Wappel is a...
by 440 votes. During this campaign, members of the group Campaign Life distributed leaflets attacking Stackhouse as a "babykiller" because he supported abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
in some circumstances (Toronto Star, 4 July 1988). He described this attack as "disgusting and reproachful", adding "That kind of personal attack by design has no part in a democracy" (Toronto Star, 27 December 1988). The Campaign Life campaign had endorsed Wappel, who opposes abortion under all circumstances.
Stackhouse returned to teaching theology and philosophy after leaving parliament. He also served as president of the Canadian National Exhibition Association after leaving parliament (Toronto Star, 25 June 1991), and was appointed to a term on the Canadian Human Rights Commission
Canadian Human Rights Commission
The Canadian Human Rights Commission is a quasi-judicial body that was established in 1977 by the government of Canada. It is empowered under the Canadian Human Rights Act to investigate and try to settle complaints of discrimination in employment and in the provision of services within federal...
in 1990 (Globe and Mail, 24 July 1990).
He attempted a returned to parliament in the 1993 election
Canadian federal election, 1993
The Canadian federal election of 1993 was held on October 25 of that year to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 35th Parliament of Canada. Fourteen parties competed for the 295 seats in the House at that time...
, but finished third against Wappel with 5,664 votes (14.45%) amid a general decline in support for his party. In the buildup to the 1993 campaign, he called for the abolition of the Canadian Senate
Canadian Senate
The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...
(Globe and Mail, 25 June 1993).
Stackhouse is now a professor at the University of Toronto. In 2004, he announced his plans to publish a work entitled The Coming Age Revolution, challenging traditional notions of retirement
Retirement
Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to...
(Globe and Mail, 28 February 2004).
In 2011, he was made a Member of the Order of Ontario
Order of Ontario
The Order of Ontario is the most prestigious official honour in the Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier David Peterson, the civilian order is administered by the Governor-in-Council and is intended to...
.