John Turner

In 1963, Turner married Geills and they have four children including three sons and a daughter. Geills campaigned for him in the federal election and “brought computers into Turner's campaign.

Turner was born on June 7, 1929 in Surrey, England, to Leonard Turner and Phyllis Gregory. When his father died in 1932, he moved to Canada with his Canadian-born mother, and settled in British Columbia.

His mother remarried in 1945 to Frank Mackenzie Ross, who later served as Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia, and the family relocated to Vancouver. Turner was educated at Ashbury College and St Patrick's College, Ottawa.

He enrolled at the University of British Columbia in 1945. A terrific track sprinter, he held the Canadian 100 meters record, but a bad knee kept him out of the 1948 London Olympics.

He graduated from UBC becoming a Rhodes Scholar. He went on to Magdalen College at the University of Oxford, and earned Bachelors degrees in Jurisprudence, Civil Law and an M.A

At Oxford, Roger Bannister, who first broke the four-minute barrier in the mile, was his track and field teammate and future Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser his class mate.

In 1957 the Liberals were looking for young people to help regenerate the party and C.D. Howe, the Liberal M.P, recruited Turner to work in the party machine during the election.

By 1962 he was ready to run for office himself and chose the riding of St-Laurent-St-Georges in Quebec He was nominated as a candidate and won the election in June.

As one of “The Young Turks" advocating reforms in party policy, he joined PM Pearson’s cabinet and was initially not given a portfolio but in 1967, he was made the Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs.

When Pearson retired, Turner ran to succeed him at the 1968 leadership convention. He was the youngest of the dozen leadership candidates, and finished the ballot third behind Pierre Trudeau and Robert Winters.

He served as Minister of Finance from 1972 until 1975. He had to tackle global financial issues including the explosive increase in the price of oil, slow economic growth, soaring inflation, and growing deficits.

Turner served in Trudeau’s cabinet as Minister of Justice between 1968 and 1972, updated the department, abandoned the tradition of party patronage in the appointment of judges, and oversaw numerous Criminal Code reforms.

Upon his becoming PM, an election was immediately called, and he spent the summer campaigning for an election. During his brief, 79 day administration, Canada earned its highest ever Olympic medal haul.