Garth Turner - His Journey on Parliament Hill

Not many political careers are as interesting to follow as that of Garth Turner, the Member of Parliament for Halton, Ontario. His background before and in between political careers as well as his record on Parliament Hill, Turner has a profile that includes many more peaks and valleys than the thousands of other politicians who have served before and with him.

Early life

Born in Woodstock Ontario in 1949, a career in the public eye seems to always have been Turner’s calling. Perhaps his background in media prepared the foundation for his current political approach, in which he uses frequent blog postings and Internet savvy to keep constituents and the country at large (or those interested in reading it anyway) interested in his latest thoughts on government.

Turner gained his writing background through the University of Toronto, from which he earned both a Bachelor of Arts degree (with an English major) and the University of Ontario, where he earned a Master of Arts degree (English literature). Graduating before the days when journalists decided they needed to codify and streamline their approach, this advanced education was enough to get Turner a job with the Toronto Sun, where he was serving as editor until 1988.

Early Political Life

In 1988, Turner decided to run for the Progressive Conservative Party in the Halton riding. He quickly made an impact, serving as chair for several committees, and it appears as though he felt his contributions warranted much more attention; when Brian Mulroney stepped down in 1993, Turner was among the leadership candidates despite having only served one term in office. He was defeated, but was appointed to the short-lived Kim Campbell cabinet as a reconciliatory measure. The election of 1993 saw Turner join most of the rest of his PC confederates as former MPs in the slaughter that saw only 2 members of the party elected countrywide.

Intermission

Turner’s hiatus from political life is both as interesting and as filled with question marks as his political career. Parlaying his experience at the Sun and in politics, he enjoyed a successful run both as an author of financial books and a speaker on financial issues. He also started a financial investment business, which came under suspicion from the Ontario Securities Commission, as Turner never registered it.

Turner also started up a media company known as Millennium Media Television, touted on his website as being the largest producer of independent shows on Canadian airwaves. Apart from his own website and an investigative report by the CBC into the company’s alleged airing of infomercial like material disguised as programming, not much is really known about the company.

Turner was also national director of well-known environmental organization the Sierra Defence Fund as well as founder of a group that restores heritage buildings.

Current Political Life

Turner found his way back into politics in the 2006 election, with the “new” Conservative party, but again seemed to struggle with leadership. Turner has switched parties; this came about after several confrontations with the Prime Minister and a very brief stint as an Independent MP.

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