Willis Merwyn Johnson (May 9, 1923 – July 14, 2019), better known as Merv Johnson, was a Canadian farmer and politician in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

. Johnson was the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Member for Parliament for

Kindersley Kindersley is a town surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Kindersley No. 290 in west-central Saskatchewan, Canada. It is located along Highway 7, a primary highway linking Calgary, Alberta and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. At a population of 4,59 ...

, Saskatchewan. He first won his seat in the House of Commons of Canada in the 1953 federal election and was re-elected in

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

before being defeated in the 1958 general election in the

Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electio ...

landslide. He attempted to re-enter the House of Commons in several subsequent elections as a

New Democrat New Democrats, also known as centrist Democrats, Clinton Democrats, or moderate Democrats, are a centrist ideological faction within the Democratic Party in the United States. As the Third Way faction of the party, they are seen as cultural ...

but was unsuccessful. In 1977, Johnson was appointed to serve as Saskatchewan's agent-general in

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

. He also served for several years as president of the Saskatchewan CCF-NDP and was president of the federal New Democratic Party of Canada from 1963 to 1965. He died in Victoria, British Columbia in July 2019 at the age of 96.Willis Merwyn (Merv) Johnson obituary
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Merv 1923 births 2019 deaths 20th-century Canadian politicians Co-operative Commonwealth Federation MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Saskatchewan Presidents of the New Democratic Party of Canada