William John Vankoughnet (born January 7, 1943) is a former

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

from 1979 to 1993, and a Progressive Conservative member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA; ) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly are given royal as ...

from 1995 to 1999.

Background

Vankoughnet was educated at

Loyalist College Loyalist College (formally Loyalist College of Applied Arts and Technology) is an English language, English-language college in Belleville, Ontario, Canada that is partnered with private Toronto Business College. History Prior to the 1960s, ...

and Queen's University, and subsequently worked as a municipal administrator. He was also an active

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and

shriner Shriners International, formally known as the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (AAONMS), is an American Masonic society. Founded in 1872 in New York City, it is headquartered in Tampa, Florida, and has over 200 chapters ...

, and is a life member of the

Monarchist League of Canada The Monarchist League of Canada () is a Canadian nonprofit monarchist advocacy organization."Who We Are"< ...

and the

Royal Canadian Legion The Royal Canadian Legion is a non-profit Canadian veterans' organization founded in 1925. Members include people who served in the military, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, provincial or municipal police, Royal Canadian Air, Army and Sea Cade ...

Federal politics

He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1979 federal election, defeating Liberal candidate Ron Vastokas by about 6,500 votes in the rural riding of Hastings—Frontenac, near Kingston. He was re-elected over Vastokas by a narrower margin in the 1980 election, and by a greater margin in the 1984 election in the renamed riding of

Hastings—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington Hastings—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington was a federal and provincial electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1984 to 2003, and in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1999 to 2 ...

. In the 1988 election, he defeated Liberal candidate Earl Smith by fewer than 1,000 votes. During his fourteen years in parliament, Vankoughnet never held an official legislative position. Unlike most Progressive Conservative MPs, Vankoughnet opposed the

Meech Lake Meech Lake () is located within Gatineau Park in the Municipality of Chelsea, Quebec, Canada. It is located about 20 km northwest of Gatineau. The lake was named after Reverend Asa Meech, an early settler in the area. Near the lake, on Meech C ...

constitutional accord. The Progressive Conservatives lost all their Ontario seats in the 1993 federal election, and Vankoughnet lost to Liberal Larry McCormick by over 13,000 votes.

Provincial politics

Vankoughnet was elected to the provincial legislature two years later, defeating Liberal candidate Peter Walker and incumbent

New Democrat New Democrats may refer to: * New Democratic Party, a social democratic party in Canada * New Democrats (United States), the ideological centrist faction of the Democratic Party ** New Democrat Coalition, the related caucus in the United States H ...

Fred Wilson in the riding of Frontenac—Addington. He served as a

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supporter for the next four years. Vankoughnet's prospects for career advancement all but ended on May 1, 1996, when he was caught trying to buy sexual favours from an undercover police officer who was posing as a prostitute in the Parkdale neighbourhood of

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. The charges were dropped when Vankoughnet agreed to attend a "john school". After he was arrested he withdrew from the Progressive Conservative caucus and briefly sat as an independent until he returned on September 23, 1996. Vankoughnet played only a minimal role in the legislature after this incident. Ironically, he was formally accepted into the exclusive Albany Club of Toronto on the same day as his arrest. In 1996, the government of Mike Harris reduced the number of provincial ridings from 130 to 103. This forced a number of sitting MPPs to compete against one another for renomination. Vankoughnet, his reputation still damaged by the prostitute incident, lost the Progressive Conservative nomination in Hastings—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington to Harry Danford in 1999.

Federal politics (2nd time)

Vankoughnet sought a political comeback in 2004 by challenging Scott Reid for the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

nomination in Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington. The party refused to permit his candidacy, however, and Vankoughnet challenged Reid in the general election as an independent candidate. He received only 820 votes.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vankoughnet, Bill 1943 births Canadian monarchists Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Politicians from Kingston, Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario