Turner, John Napier Wyndham, 1929–2020, Canadian prime minister (1984). Born in England, he immigrated (1932) to Ontario with his Canadian-born mother after she was widowed. Trained as a lawyer, he entered the House of Commons as a Liberal in 1962. He subsequently served as head of several ministries, notably as minister of justice (1968–72), where he was responsible for securing enactment of many reforms, and minister of finance (1972–75). A long-time rival of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, he resigned from the cabinet in 1975 and from Parliament in 1976. After Trudeau's resignation in 1984, he became leader of the Liberal party. He became prime minister in June and dissolved Parliament shortly thereafter; in September the Liberals were soundly defeated. Turner, now again in Parliament, remained party leader until 1990, actively opposing Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's free-trade deal with the United States; he retired from Parliament in 1993.
See biography by P. Litt (2011).
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