John Duncan (Canadian politician)

The Honourable John Duncan PC
Chief Government Whip
In office July 15, 2013 – October 19, 2015
Prime Minister	Stephen Harper
Preceded by	Gordon O'Connor
Succeeded by	Andrew Leslie
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Vancouver Island North
In office October 14, 2008 – October 19, 2015
Preceded by	Catherine J. Bell
Succeeded by	Rachel Blaney
In office June 2, 1997 – January 23, 2006
Preceded by	Ray Skelly
Succeeded by	Catherine J. Bell
Member of the Canadian Parliament for North Island—Powell River
In office October 25, 1993 – June 2, 1997
Preceded by	Ray Skelly
Succeeded by	Riding Abolished
Personal details
Born	John Morris Duncan December 19, 1948 Winnipeg, Manitoba
Political party	Conservative
Residence	Courtenay, British Columbia
Profession	Forestry

John Morris Duncan, PC, MP, (born December 19, 1948) is a Canadian politician. He served as a Member of the Canadian Parliament from 1993 to January 2006 and again from October 2008 until August 2015. On August 6, 2010, he was appointed to the Canadian Cabinet as Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians, and Minister responsible for the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency until his resignation on February 15, 2013 over his inappropriate written communication to the Tax Court of Canada.^[1] He later returned to Cabinet as Chief Government Whip, and served in that capacity until the 2015 election, which saw both Duncan's own defeat and the defeat of the government.

Education

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and raised in British Columbia, Duncan attended the University of British Columbia and graduated with a B.Sc. F from their Faculty of Forestry in 1972. Duncan's first experience as an elected official was as an alderman in Ucluelet, British Columbia from 1982-83.^[2]

Entrance to politics

In the 1993 election, Duncan was elected as a member of the Reform Party. He has served in all that party's incarnations up until the 2006 federal election, when he lost his seat to Catherine J. Bell of the New Democratic Party by 630 votes.

Duncan was the Conservative Party's Official Opposition Critic for Natural Resources. During that time he served on the Natural Resources Committee. He helped shape Conservative Party policy on west coast offshore oil and gas, softwood lumber trade and the pine beetle epidemic.

While in parliament, he was a member of the "Restaurant Caucus" in the House of Commons, a group of MPs who have interests in the restaurant industry.

Duncan's Private Member's Bill C - 259 passed the 38th Parliament to receive Royal Assent to eliminate the excise tax on jewelry. Duncan made parliamentary history as the first MP to have a Private Member's bill related to cutting taxation pass.

He won the Vancouver Island North Conservative Party nomination for the 2008 federal election and was elected with 45.78% of the vote.

On December 2, 2008, the New Democratic Party asked the RCMP to investigate John Duncan's alleged secret recording of a private NDP conference. He had apparently received the invitation to participate by mistake, in place of NDP MP Linda Duncan who had "a similar email address".^[3][4] This happened within the context of the 2008–09 Canadian parliamentary dispute.

On August 6, 2010, in a minor cabinet shuffle, he joined cabinet as Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.^[5][6][7]

Under the Harper government, several key bills with a direct effect on aboriginal communities have stalled. As a result, First Nations across Canada have embarked on a widespread and prolonged series of demonstrations under the banner of "Idle No More." In addition, Attawapiskat chief Theresa Spence began a fast in December 2012 to demand a meeting with Harper and a Crown representative. In response, Duncan wrote to Spence requesting she give up her hunger strike and meet with him. "I didn’t ask for Minister Duncan," Spence replied. "And I have dealt with him before. When I observe him, he doesn't have a mind of his own because, before he would answer a question, he would always look at his people. He's not the Prime Minister."^[8]

On February 15, 2013, he resigned from his cabinet position as Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development after improperly advocating to a tax court on behalf of a constituent in June 2011,^[9] and was replaced by James Moore.^[10] He returned to cabinet in the more junior role as Minister of State and Chief Government Whip in July 2013.^[11][12]

In the Canadian federal election, 2015, Duncan sought reelection in the newly created riding of Courtenay—Alberni, but was defeated by Gord Johns of the NDP.

Electoral record

Canadian federal election, 2015: Courtenay—Alberni
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Gord Johns	26,595	38.15	-2.57	–
	Conservative	John Duncan	19,631	28.16	-16.73	–
	Liberal	Carrie Powell-Davidson	15,166	21.75	+15.03	–
	Green	Glenn Sollitt	8,190	11.75	+5.03	–
	Marxist–Leninist	Barbara Biley	137	0.27	–	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			–	100.0		$229,341.97
Total rejected ballots			–	–	–
Turnout			–	–	–
Eligible voters			88,673
	New Democratic notional gain from Conservative		Swing		-9.65
This riding was created from Nanaimo—Alberni and Vancouver Island North, both of which elected a Conservative candidate in the last election. John Duncan was the incumbent from Vancouver Island North.
Source: Elections Canada[13][14]

Canadian federal election, 2011: Vancouver Island North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Conservative	John Duncan	27,206	46.11	+0.33
	New Democratic	Ronna-Rae Leonard	25,379	43.01	+1.58
	Liberal	Mike Holland	3,018	5.11	+0.93
	Green	Sue Moen	2,995	5.08	-2.90
	Independent	Jason Draper	304	0.52	-0.11
	Marxist–Leninist	Frank Martin	57	0.10	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			59,003	100.0
Total rejected ballots			187	0.32
Turnout			59,190	66.39
Eligible voters			89,150
	Conservative hold		Swing		-0.62

Canadian federal election, 2008: Vancouver Island North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Conservative	John Duncan	26,166	45.78	+5.17	$76,173
	New Democratic	Catherine J. Bell	23,681	41.43	-0.29	$80,622
	Green	Philip Stone	4,563	7.98	+3.14	$12,309
	Liberal	Geoff Fleischer	2,391	4.18	-8.65	$2,026
	Independent	Jason Draper	361	0.63	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			57,162	100.0		$171,130
	Conservative gain from New Democratic		Swing		+2.73

Canadian federal election, 2006: Vancouver Island North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Catherine J. Bell	23,561	41.72	+7.23	$80,265
	Conservative	John Duncan	22,931	40.61	+5.20	$91,651
	Liberal	Jim Mitchell	7,243	12.83	-8.62	$28,226
	Green	Michael Mascall	2,735	4.84	-3.58	$8,685
Total valid votes			56,470	100.0
	New Democratic gain from Conservative		Swing		+1.02

Canadian federal election, 2004: Vancouver Island North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Conservative	John Duncan	18,733	35.41	-15.62	$47,274
	New Democratic	Catherine J. Bell	18,250	34.49	+22.78	$43,372
	Liberal	Noor Ahmed	11,352	21.45	-3.39	$78,890
	Green	Pam Munroe	4,456	8.42	+3.22	$26,376
	Marxist–Leninist	Jack East	111	0.20	+0.02
Total valid votes			52,902	100.0
Total rejected ballots			136	0.26	+0.01
Turnout			53,038	65.79	+1.31
	Conservative hold		Swing		-19.20
Change for the Conservatives is based on the combined total of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives.

Canadian federal election, 2000: Vancouver Island North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Alliance	John Duncan	24,844	51.03	+3.49	$42,203
	Liberal	Daniel P. Smith	12,092	24.84	+3.92	$52,728
	New Democratic	Alex Turner	5,701	11.71	-11.57	$10,377
	Progressive Conservative	David R. Tingley	2,997	6.15	+2.71	$33
	Green	Pam Munroe	2,532	5.20	+1.95	$6,295
	Independent	John Krell	216	0.44	–
	Natural Law	Nancy More	205	0.42	-0.03
	Marxist–Leninist	Jack East	92	0.18	–	$90
Total valid votes			48,679	100.0
Total rejected ballots			131	0.27	-0.07
Turnout			48,810	64.48	+0.12
	Alliance hold		Swing		-0.22
Change for the Canadian Alliance is based on the 1997 results of the Reform Party.

Canadian federal election, 1997: Vancouver Island North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Reform	John Duncan	22,769	47.54	$31,625
	New Democratic	Gilbert Popovich	11,152	23.28	$60,126
	Liberal	David Durrant	10,024	20.92	$14,397
	Progressive Conservative	Dave Tingley	1,650	3.44	$3,659
	Green	Hazel Lennox	1,559	3.25
	Christian Heritage	John Krell	522	1.08	$2,001
	Natural Law	Nancy More	218	0.45
Total valid votes			47,894	100.0
Total rejected ballots			161	0.34
Turnout			48,055	64.36
This riding was created from Comox—Alberni and North Island—Powell River, both of which elected a Reform candidate in the previous election. John Duncan was the incumbent from North Island—Powell River.

Canadian federal election, 1993: North Island—Powell River
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Reform	John Duncan	18,255	39.31	+37.63
	Liberal	Al Huddlestan	11,877	25.57	+9.46
	New Democratic	Raymond Skelly	7,794	16.78	−35.24
	Progressive Conservative	Mark von Schellwitz	3,682	7.93	−16.49
	National	Mark A. Grenier	3,408	7.34	–
	Green	Michael Mascall	1,015	2.19	+0.97
	Natural Law	Wayne A. Melvin	254	0.55	–
	Canada Party	James Peter Turner	159	0.34	–
Total valid votes			46,444	100.0
	Reform gain from New Democratic		Swing		+14.08

References

1. "Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan resigns from cabinet". CBC News. February 15, 2013. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
2. "Canada Votes 2008 – Vancouver Island North". CBC News. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
3. "North Vancouver Island MP John Duncan accused of taping NDP caucus call". CanWest News. December 2, 2008. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
4. Duncan accused by NDP. BCLocalNews. December 2, 2008. Archived December 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
5. "B.C.'s Duncan named Indian Affairs minister". CBC News. August 6, 2010. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
6. "Indigenous leaders, activists raise concerns about John Duncan's track record".
7. "John Baird says he'll be a 'pussycat' in new post". CTV News. August 6, 2010. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
8. "As protests swell, Attawapiskat chief stands firm on hunger strike". The Globe and Mail. December 26, 2012. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
9. "John Duncan resigns as Minister of Aboriginal Affairs over 2011 reference letter". Global News. February 15, 2013. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
10. "James Moore the right man for the job as aboriginal affairs minister, fellow MP says". The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
11. "Stephen Harper's new cabinet features new blood, more women and maintains economic team". Ottawa Citizen. July 15, 2013. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
12. "Harper adds 8 new faces in major cabinet shakeup". CBC News. July 15, 2013. Retrieved 2015-06-29.
13. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Courtenay—Alberni, 30 September 2015
14. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates

External links

• Official site
• Profile at Parliament of Canada
• John Duncan – Parliament of Canada biography
• Speeches, votes and activity at OpenParliament.ca