Elmer Buchanan (born ) is a former politician in
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
New Democratic 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 1990 to 1995 who represented the eastern Ontario riding of
Hastings—Peterborough
Hastings—Peterborough was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1925 to 1953. It was located in the province of Ontario. This riding was created in 1924 from parts of Hastings East and Peterborough ...
. He was 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
Bob Rae
Robert Keith Rae (born August 2, 1948) is a Canadian diplomat and former politician who is the current Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations since 2020. He previously served as the 21st premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, leader of the ...
. Buchanan left the NDP to support
Bob Rae
Robert Keith Rae (born August 2, 1948) is a Canadian diplomat and former politician who is the current Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations since 2020. He previously served as the 21st premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, leader of the ...
's 2006 Liberal party leadership bid.
Background
Buchanan was born in Havelock, Ontario and raised on a farm in Belmont Township where his family has lived since 1834. Buchanan studied at
Queen's University where he graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
degree, and also has a certificate from Teacher's College in
Peterborough County
Peterborough County is a county and census division located in Southern Ontario, Canada. The county seat is the City of Peterborough, which is independent of the county.
The southern section of the county is mix of agriculture, urban and lakef ...
. He worked as a high-school teacher in
Hastings County
Hastings County is a county and census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. Geographically, it is located on the border of Eastern Ontario and Central Ontario. Hastings County is the second-largest county in Ontario, after Renfrew C ...
, and was vice-principal of North Hastings High School for four years.
Politics
Buchanan helped form the NDP association in Hastings in 1972. From 1975 to 1987 he campaigned for provincial office five times before his election in 1990.
The NDP won a majority government under Bob Rae in the
provincial election of 1990, and Buchanan defeated
Jim Pollock by 896 votes.
He was named
Minister of Agriculture and Food on October 1, 1990, and held this position for the entirety of the Rae government.
Buchanan was one of the most successful ministers in the Rae government, and was widely praised for his handling of the agriculture portfolio. Premier
Bob Rae
Robert Keith Rae (born August 2, 1948) is a Canadian diplomat and former politician who is the current Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations since 2020. He previously served as the 21st premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, leader of the ...
said that he was "a constant source of sound advice, political savvy and practical intelligence." While the Ontario NDP lost much of its rural support between 1990 and 1995, Buchanan remained personally popular within rural Ontario and with the agricultural community.
Buchanan stabilized funding to many rural centres in 1994, and was a supporter of fuel
ethanol
Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...
throughout his time in government. He also promoted a rural investment pool, and extended unionization rights to farm workers while ensuring that farms with fifty or fewer employees would not be affected.
The NDP was defeated in the
provincial election of 1995, and Buchanan's personal popularity was not enough to save him from the party's loss of support in rural areas. He lost to Progressive Conservative
Harry Danford by almost 8,000 votes, amid a provincial majority for the Progressive Conservative Party.
Despite some cutbacks during Ontario's recession of the early 1990s, the agriculture ministry had a budget of about $600 million in 1994 and kept an agricultural representative in each of the 52 county offices. By 2000, under 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 ...
, the budget had been cut to $300 million and the local representatives had been eliminated.
Cabinet positions
Later life
Buchanan initially considered running for the leadership of the NDP in 1996, but declined. He was instead elected as treasurer of the Ontario NDP, and set tough targets for eliminating the party's post-1995 debt. He also served as a vice-president on the party's executive, and became a board member of the
Children's Aid Society
Children's Aid, formerly the Children's Aid Society, is a private child welfare nonprofit in New York City founded in 1853 by Charles Loring Brace. With an annual budget of over $100 million, 45 citywide sites, and over 1,200 full-time employees ...
.
In early 2005, he assisted the NDP's
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections.
A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
campaign in the rural riding of
Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey could refer to:
* Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey (federal electoral district)
* Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey (provincial electoral district)
{{Disambiguation ...
. However, since his endorsement of Bob Rae's bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party, he has severed his ties to the NDP.
In 2008, Buchanan was named Acting Chair of the Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission.
On October 11, 2013 Buchanan was appointed Board Chair of the Ontario Racing Commission.
[The Peterborough Examiner, October 11, 2013]
References
Notes
Citations
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buchanan, Elmer
1946 births
Living people
Members of the Executive Council of Ontario
Ontario New Democratic Party MPPs
People from Peterborough County
20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario