- Richard Johnston
:"For the American writer and educator see
Richard Malcolm Johnston ; for the baseball player, seeDick Johnston ; for the judge seeRichard Johnston (judge) ; for the comic book columnist seeRich Johnston "; for Memphis contemporary blues musician, Richard Johnston, see IMdB.Richard Frank Johnston (born
August 8 1946 in Pembroke,Ontario ) is a retired Canadian politician, educator and administrator.Johnston was educated at
Trent University and worked there as an administrator and counsellor. He then became asocial worker specialising in the elderly and was an organizer forOntario New Democratic Party leaderStephen Lewis in the 1970s. He also worked as executive director of community care in Durham Region.When Lewis left politics, Johnston ran to succeed him as the NDP
Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Scarborough West, winning election to theLegislative Assembly of Ontario in a 1979by-election . Johnston was re-elected in the elections of 1981, 1985 and 1987. The only time he faced a serious challenge was in 1981, when he defeated Progressive Conservative John Adams by 375 votes.Johnston ran in the 1982 NDP leadership convention, coming in second to
Bob Rae . Johnston's leadership bid received support from many on the left-wing of the party. In the legislature, Johnston served as chair of the NDPcaucus and chair of the social development committee during the 1985 to 1987 minority legislature in which the NDP held thebalance of power . Johnston, unlike Rae, had originally supported a coalition government with the Liberal Party following the election of 1985.He crusaded for improved benefits to the poor and disabled by attempting to live for a month on a "welfare diet" in 1982, limiting his food budget to that of the average person on welfare. In 1987, he presented a report to the legislature, "Toward a New Ontario", which recommended an overhaul of the existing social assistance system.
Johnston also moved a motion to declare Ontario a
nuclear weapon s-free zone and travelled toNicaragua to support theSandinistas , and to help build a school and medical facility.Johnston was planning to run for the NDP leadership again in 1989, when Rae considered running for the leadership of the federal
New Democratic Party . These plans came to nothing, after Rae decided to remain in provincial politics.After suffering a heart attack, Johnston decided to retire from politics and did not run for re-election in the 1990 election. As that election was won by the NDP, he narrowly missed the opportunity to serve in government as he would have been certain to have received a senior
cabinet position had he remained in politics.Following his departure from politics, Johnston returned to academia serving as chair of the Ontario Council of Regents for the Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology from 1991 to 1995. He then served as president of the
First Nations Technical Institute on the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory from 1995 until 1998 as well as a member ofTrent University 's board of directors. Johnston served as president ofCentennial College in Scarborough from 1998 until 2004, when he retired to concentrate on thevineyard andwinery that he and his wife operate in Prince Edward County.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.