Charles Beer
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

John Charles McWaters Beer (born November 24, 1941) is a former Canadian politician. He was a Liberal 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 1987 to 1995 and served as a
cabinet minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...
in the government of
David Peterson David Robert Peterson (born December 28, 1943) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 20th premier of Ontario from 1985 to 1990. He was the first Liberal officeholder in 42 years, ending the so-called Tory dynasty. Back ...
.


Background

Beer was born in Toronto. His parents were Harry M. Beer and Elizabeth Greenway Holmes. He was educated at the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
,
York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...
,
Université Laval (; English: ''Laval University)'' is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university traces its roots to the Séminaire de Québec, founded by François de Montmorency-Laval in 1663, making it the oldest institutio ...
and the National Defence College. He worked as an educator after graduating and was the Assistant Headmaster of
Pickering College Pickering College is an independent, co-educational school for children in grades from Junior Kindergarten through grade 12. It is located in Newmarket, Ontario, Newmarket, Ontario in Canada on a 17-hectare (42 acre) property on Bayview Avenue. The ...
from 1981 to 1986. In 1987, he served as director of the Ontario Conference of Independent Schools.


Politics

He ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1977 provincial election, but finished a distant third against Progressive Conservative
Frank Drea James Francis "Frank" Drea (July 7, 1933 – January 15, 2003) was a Canadian journalist, broadcaster, politician and racehorse enthusiast. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1971 to 1985 repres ...
in Scarborough Centre. He campaigned for the legislature again in the 1981 election, but lost to Progressive Conservative
Margaret Birch Margaret Birch (13 June 1921 — 29 October 2020) was a Canadian politician in Ontario. She was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1971 to 1985 who represented the east Toronto riding of Scarborough E ...
in
Scarborough East Scarborough East was a Canadian electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 to 2003. It initially consisted the eastern part of the Borough of Scarborough, Toronto, Scarborough, although its boundaries were adju ...
. Beer was elected to the Ontario legislature on his third attempt, in the 1987 election in which the
Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...
won a landslide majority. He defeated Progressive Conservative candidate John Cole by 5,185 votes in
York North York North was a federal riding in Ontario, Canada, that was in the House of Commons of Canada from Confederation in 1867 until 2004. The federal riding was eliminated in 2003 when it was redistributed between two new ridings of Newmarketâ ...
, located just north of Toronto. Beer was appointed a
parliamentary assistant In British politics and some Commonwealth nations, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan staff member employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work ...
in 1988, and was promoted to Minister of Community and Social Services and Minister responsible for Francophone Affairs on August 2, 1989. In the former capacity, he started the Advisory Group on New Social Assistance Legislation in 1990. The Liberals were defeated in the 1990 provincial election but Beer retained his seat beating Progressive Conservative candidate George Timpson by only 158 votes (
Ontario New Democratic Party The Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP; , NPD) is a social democratic political party in Ontario, Canada. The party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. It is Ontario’s provincial section of the federal New Democratic Party. The ...
candidate Keith Munro was a close third). Peterson resigned as Liberal leader immediately after the election, and Beer ran to succeed him in the 1992 leadership election. He finished fourth, withdrawing from the contest after the third ballot. Beer was on the left wing of the Liberal Party and played a significant role in developing the party's "Red Book" platform for the 1995 provincial campaign. The Progressive Conservatives won a majority government in this election, however, and Beer was among the Liberal incumbents defeated, losing to
Frank Klees Frank Klees (born March 6, 1951) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2014. He was a cabinet minister in the governments of Mike Harris and Ernie ...
, later a cabinet minister in the government of
Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a retired Canadian politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. Taking the PC ...
, by almost 12,000 votes. In 1996, he endorsed
Gerard Kennedy Gerard Michael Kennedy (born July 24, 1960) is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as Ontario's minister of Education from 2003 to 2006, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Ca ...
's unsuccessful bid to become leader of the Ontario Liberal Party.


Cabinet positions


Later life

In the late 1990s, Beer served as the president and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Executive Service Organization, a not-for-profit agency that transfers Canadian technical and managerial expertise to developing countries. He served as the executive assistant to
George Smitherman George Smitherman (born February 12, 1964) is a former Canadian politician and broadcaster. He represented the provincial riding of Toronto Centre in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1999 to 2010, when he resigned to contest the mayor ...
, the Minister of Health and Long Term Care. In 2009, he was appointed to perform a review of Ontario Accessibility Act.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beer, Charles 1941 births Living people Members of the Executive Council of Ontario Ontario Liberal Party MPPs Politicians from Toronto Royal Military College of Canada alumni 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario