- John Godfrey
Infobox CanadianMP
honorific-prefix =The Honourable
name = John Ferguson Godfrey
honorific-suffix =
PC, MP
riding =Don Valley West
parliament = Canadian
term_start = 1993
term_end =August 1 2008
predecessor =John Bosley
successor =
birth_date = birth date and age|1942|12|14
birth_place =Toronto ,Ontario
death_date =
death_place =
party = Liberal
spouse = Trish Godfrey
profession = Economist, historian, journalist, editor, administrator
religion =Anglican [http://www.egale.ca/index.asp?lang=E&menu=56&item=2222]
residence =Ottawa
footnotes =John Ferguson Godfrey, PC, (born
December 19 ,1942 ) is a Canadian educator, journalist and former Member of Parliament.Education
He was born in
Toronto, Ontario . His father, SenatorJohn Morrow Godfrey (June 28, 1912 – March 8, 2001), was a Canadian pilot, lawyer and politician. John Godfrey graduated fromUpper Canada College in 1960. In 1961, he attended theNeuchâtel Junior College inNeuchâtel ,Switzerland . In 1965, he received aBachelor of Arts degree from Trinity College,University of Toronto and in 1967, he received aMaster of Philosophy fromBalliol College, Oxford and Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) fromSt Antony's College, Oxford in 1975.Early career
Prior to entering politics, Godfrey was an economist, historian and journalist.
In the mid-1970s Godfrey was a history professor at
Dalhousie University in Halifax. He served as president ofUniversity of King's College from 1977-87.From 1987 to 1991 he was editor of the "
Financial Post ".Politics
He was first elected to the
Canadian House of Commons as the LiberalMember of Parliament (MP) for theToronto area riding ofDon Valley West in the 1993 election, and has been re-elected in each subsequent vote.During the
1995 Quebec referendum , Godfrey had an acquaintance perform a psychiatric evaluation of separatist leaderLucien Bouchard [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0011395] .In 1996, he and fellow Liberal MP
Peter Milliken introduced theGodfrey-Milliken Bill a parody of the AmericanHelms-Burton Act . The gesture received extensive media coverage including in the United States, where Godfrey was featured on the CBS program '60 Minutes'. From 1996 to 2004, Godfrey served as aParliamentary Secretary under Prime MinisterJean Chrétien .Minister of State for Infrastructure and Communities
In 2003, Paul Martin succeeded Chrétien as Liberal leader and prime minister. Following the subsequent 2004 election, Godfrey, among other key Martin allies, was appointed to the Cabinet in the role of Minister of State for Infrastructure and Communities. In this role, he was primarily responsible for overseeing the "New Deal for Cities",
Federation of Canadian Municipalities relationship, and other initiatives in Canadian federal-municipal relations. This role is considered a keystone of Martin's industrial strategy.According to
Auditor General of Canada Sheila Fraser , Canada lags far behind the US and UK inmunicipal performance audit s for government, in applying its own statements toprocurement , and in direct federal standards applying to municipal operations. Godfrey was tasked with dealing with these substantial problems, a role complicated by the fact that, constitutionally, provinces in Canada have formal jurisdiction over cities and municipalities, and have blocked most necessary changes in funding and operations. This is markedly different than in the US where theGeneral Accounting Office has applied specific accounting standards, and theFederal Emergency Management Agency has required specific upgrades to city emergency responses. As in major American cities, federal support of amunicipal emergency response is a problem of particular concern in Godfrey's home city of Toronto, following theSARS outbreak, the August 2003 blackout and smog and snow crises. Toronto is also considered to be the primary target for anyasymmetric warfare /terrorist attack on Canada.As an additional complexity, Canadian cities faced with
gridlock andsmog problems due tocommuting andurban sprawl , now faceKyoto Accord requirements to cutgreenhouse gas output.To deal with these problems, on a national level, Godfrey has been directly involved in negotiations regarding climate change auditing and other municipal performance indicators that would apply at least to cities in Canada, and eventually to all municipalities.
Liberal Leadership
On
February 3 ,2006 ,CBC Newsworld 'sDon Newman announced on air that his sources say Godfrey is planning a run for the Liberal Party leadership [http://www.cbc.ca/clips/rm-newsworld/politics/politicspm_fri.ram (.ram)] . Godfrey declared his candidacy on "Goldhawk Live" onMarch 19 , shortly after the rules and convention date were set. Media reaction was positive, but competed with low-brow coverage ofAshley MacIsaac , who declared his intention to run to the "Halifax Daily News " the next day.In the early stages of the campaign he was recurrently cited as exemplar of intellectualism in the race, being one of three former university professors in the running. Name-recognition remained a challenge, but Godfrey received plaudits in the
Canadian blogosphere [http://calgarygrit.blogspot.com/2006/04/its-fun-to-stay-at-l-p-c.html] for his performance in the first all-candidates meeting at the Liberal Party of Alberta convention in April 8th.On
April 12 ,2006 , Godfrey announced his withdrawal from the race, due to concerns about his health. [http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/04/12/godfrey-out060412.html] OnOctober 20 ,2006 , Godfrey announced his support forBob Rae for the federal Liberal leadership. He made the announcement at the National Press Club, on the occasion of a speech by Rae on the environment.Leaving politics
Godfrey announced in November, 2007, that he would be resigning his seat in parliament on
July 1 ,2008 in order to accept a position asheadmaster ofToronto French School and would leave earlier if an election were called before that date. He subsequently delayed his resignation date untilAugust 1 . The Conservative Party alleged that the Liberals chose to delay the by-election for financial reasons [Ivison, John, " [http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=640924 Liberal war chest on credit] ", "National Post", July 9, 2008] though Godfrey's office stated that the delay was due to a private members bill Godfrey had worked on not being givenroyal assent until June 26. [http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/cover_index.php?display=story&full_path=/2008/july/14/byelection_calls/&c=1 "Candidates girding for byelection calls"] , "Hill Times", July 14, 2008]On June 17, in a point of order following Question Period, Godfrey gave his resignation speech to the House of Commons. [http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=39&Ses=2&DocId=3586222#SOBQ-2540711]
References
*
* [http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/people/key/bio.asp?Language=E&query=116&s=M&md=1 Federal Political Biography from the Library of Parliament]External links
* [http://www.johngodfrey.on.ca Web site of John Godfrey]
* [http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Files/Parliamentarian.aspx?Item=7735b9d3-b2fe-47b2-b170-7d73357280a5&Language=E&Section=FederalExperience Parliament Webpage]
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