Norman William "Norm" Sterling (born February 19, 1942) is a
Canadian
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
politician, who served in 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 1977 to 2011.
Background
Sterling attended
Carleton University
Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...
and the
University of Ottawa
The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...
, and worked as a
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters.
The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...
and
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
before entering public life. He was a partner in the Sterling & Young law firm, and in 1974 became president of the Manotick Home & School Association.
Politics
Davis government
Sterling ran unsuccessfully for a
Progressive Conservative nomination in 1971, at age 29. He tried again, successfully, in 1977, and was elected to the Ontario legislature in the
1977 provincial election in the safe eastern Ontario
riding of
Grenville—Carleton.
He became
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 ...
to the Attorney General in 1978, but was not appointed to the cabinet of
Bill Davis
William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Behind Oliver Mowat, Davis was the List of premiers of Ontario by time in office, second-longes ...
in his first term as a
Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP).
Sterling was returned without difficulty in the
1981 election,
and served as a
minister without portfolio
A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authorit ...
from April 10, 1981 to February 13, 1982.
He was appointed as
Provincial Secretary for Justice on February 13, 1982.
On July 6, 1983, he was named as
Provincial Secretary for Resource Development.
Sterling, who represents a predominantly rural and Protestant region of Ontario, disagreed with the Davis government's decision to fully fund Ontario's
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
school system and insisted that his protest be entered into the official minutes of the
executive council. Sterling initially supported
Dennis Timbrell to replace Davis as party leader, but crossed to
Frank Miller
Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book artist, comic book writer, and screenwriter known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on ''Daredevil'', for which he created the character Elektra, and ...
on the last ballot after Timbrell was eliminated.
In opposition
The Progressive Conservatives lost power following the
1985 election, although Sterling had no difficulty being re-elected in his own riding.
There was another Progressive Conservative leadership convention in late 1985. On this occasion, Sterling broke with Timbrell (describing the latter's post-election opposition to Catholic school funding as an opportunistic volte-face), and supported
Larry Grossman.
In the
Liberal landslide of 1987, however, he was only able to defeat Liberal candidate
Roly Armitage by about 500 votes in the redistributed riding of
Carleton.
Sterling was re-elected in the provincial elections of
1990
Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...
.
During his first stint in opposition, Sterling held numerous
shadow cabinet portfolios such as critic for: the
Solicitor General of Ontario; the Management Board of Cabinet; Economics, Industry, Trade and Technology; Intergovernmental Affairs; and Treasury and Economics and Revenue.
Harris government
In the
1995 election he was re-elected by almost 20,000 votes.
The Progressive Conservatives formed government under
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 ...
in 1995, and Sterling was appointed
Minister of Small Business and Consumer Services on June 26 of that year.
On August 16, 1996, he was promoted to
Minister of Environment and Energy. On October 7, 1997, he became
Government House Leader
The Government House Leader, officially known as the leader of the Government in the House of Commons of Canada (), is the Cabinet minister responsible for planning and managing the government's legislative program in the House of Commons of ...
and was given the re-titled post of Minister of the Environment.
As Minister of the Environment, Sterling oversaw cuts of nearly 50% to the ministry's budget and privatized provincial water testing labs, which an inquiry found contributed to the
Walkerton E. coli outbreak
The Walkerton ''E. coli'' outbreak was the result of a contamination of the drinking water supply of Walkerton, Ontario, Canada, with ''E. coli'' and ''Campylobacter jejuni'' bacteria. The water supply was contaminated as a result of improper wa ...
the year after he left the portfolio. During the public inquiry, Sterling testified he had not read the province's drinking water rules and that drinking water was not a major priority for the Harris government. He also took responsibility for failing to read a warning from the health minister about shortfalls in the water-testing system.
In the
provincial election of 1999, Sterling was returned for the restructured riding of
Lanark-Carleton.
He was appointed
Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
The minister of Intergovernmental Affairs () is the Minister of the Crown in the Cabinet of Canada, Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for the federal government's relations with the governments of the provinces and territories of Canada. T ...
and
Government House Leader
The Government House Leader, officially known as the leader of the Government in the House of Commons of Canada (), is the Cabinet minister responsible for planning and managing the government's legislative program in the House of Commons of ...
on June 17, 1999.
Following a cabinet shuffle on February 8, 2001, he became
Minister of Consumer and Business Services; he also served as
Minister of Correctional Services from December 5, 2000 to March 8, 2001.
Eves government
On April 15, 2002, after
Ernie Eves
Ernest Larry Eves (born June 17, 1946) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 23rd premier of Ontario from 2002 to 2003. A Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, Progressive Conservative, he took over the premiership up ...
replaced
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 ...
as Premier, Sterling was appointed
Minister of Transportation
A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...
.
After a cabinet shuffle on February 25, 2003, he was promoted to the position of
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
, with responsibility for
Native Affairs.
In opposition (2nd time)
The Progressive Conservatives were defeated in the
2003 provincial election, although Sterling was able to defeat Liberal
Marianne Wilkinson by about 6,000 votes.
In the
2004 leadership race, Sterling supported
Jim Flaherty
James Michael Flaherty (December 30, 1949 – April 10, 2014) was a Canadian politician who served as the federal minister of finance from 2006 to 2014 under Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
First elected to the Legislative Assemb ...
's unsuccessful bid to lead the Progressive Conservative Party.
In 2004, Sterling opposed parts of the legislation to create the GTA-area
Greenbelt
A green belt or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or gree ...
that did not allow easily removing protected status from designated land, and voted against the bill in 2005.
Lanark-Carleton was redistributed prior to the
2007 provincial election, and Sterling ran for re-election in the newly created riding of
Carleton-Mississippi Mills, which had been created out of the eastern two-thirds of his old riding. He won by a convincing margin, defeating Liberal Megan Cornell by over 7,000 votes.
In the
2009 leadership race, Sterling supported the successful candidacy of
Tim Hudak
Timothy Patrick Hudak (born November 1, 1967) is a former Canadian politician who led the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, Ontario Progressive Conservative (PC) Party from 2009 to 2014. Hudak was a Member of Provincial Parliament (Can ...
. However, the membership of his riding association supported rural-rights candidate
Randy Hillier; Carleton-Mississippi Mills was one of only three ridings in the province where
Hillier won a first-ballot victory.
In March 2011, Sterling was defeated in the race for his riding’s PC nomination for the
2011 Ontario general election
Eleven or 11 may refer to:
*11 (number)
* One of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011
Literature
* ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn
*''Eleven'', a 1970 collection of short stories by Patricia Highsmith
*''Eleve ...
by
Jack MacLaren, the former president of the
Ontario Landowners Association, and left politics upon his term running out.
Sterling held multiple shadow cabinet portfolios during his second stint in opposition, such as critic for Democratic Renewal, critic for Health Promotion, critic for Intergovernmental Affairs, and Finance critic. He also served as the chair of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts during this period.
After politics
In April 2021, Sterling was appointed by Premier
Doug Ford
Douglas Robert Ford Jr. (born November 20, 1964) is a Canadian politician and businessman who has served as the 26th and current premier of Ontario and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party since 2018. He represents the Toronto rid ...
as chair of the Greenbelt Council, replacing
David Crombie
David Edward Crombie (born April 24, 1936) is a former Canadian academic and politician who served as the 56th mayor of Toronto from 1972 to 1978. Crombie was elected to Parliament following his tenure as mayor. A member of the Progressive Co ...
, who resigned along with six other council members in December 2020 over Ford's intention to reduce the power of conservation authorities. Sterling will be in charge of Ford's plan to expand the Greenbelt, which was announced after public blowback from Crombie's resignation.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sterling, Norman
1942 births
Living people
Carleton University alumni
Politicians from Ottawa
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs
University of Ottawa alumni
Members of the Executive Council of Ontario
20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario