Carman McClelland

John Carman McClelland (born September 22, 1951 in Angola) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1987 to 1995.

McClelland moved to Canada at a young age, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree York University and a law degree from the University of Windsor. Before entering political life, he practised law as an associate at the firm of Fogler, Rubinoff, Toronto. McClelland was also elected as a trustee on the Windsor Board of Education in 1980, and was a board member of the Canadian Council of Christian Charities.

McClelland first ran for the Ontario legislature in the general election of 1977, losing to New Democrat David Cooke by over 3,500 votes in Windsor—Sandwich. He did not seek office again until the 1987 provincial election, when he was easily elected in Brampton North as part of a Liberal landslide victory. McClelland served as a backbench supporter of David Peterson’s government for the next three years.

Prior to the 1990 election, McClelland was challenged for the Liberal nomination in his riding by the representative of a group which claimed the Peterson government had made insufficient outreach efforts to Ontario’s Sikh community. He won the nomination challenge, and went on to defeat NDP challenger John Devries by only 98 votes in the general election. The Liberals were upset by the NDP provincially, and McClelland moved to the opposition benches for the next five years. In 1993, he brought forward a private member’s bill dealing with the possibility of electoral recall.

The Progressive Conservatives won a majority government in the 1995 Ontario election, and McClelland lost to PC candidate Joe Spina by 5,348 votes.

He resumed his legal practice after his defeat, and is now a member and VP of the Peel Law Association Executive Committee and the President (2008-2009) Brampton Board of Trade.

McClelland was the PC candidate for the riding of Brampton-Springdale in the 2007 Ontario election.