John Paul Harney

After completing his M.A. at Queen's University in 1961, he became an assistant professor of English at the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph, Ontario, and taught there until 1966.^[2] He was also a poet, and gave readings at the Guelph Public Library.^[3] In 1970, he became a humanities professor at York University,^[4] and a professor of Canadian studies until 1998.^[5]

Harney ran as a candidate for the New Democratic Party throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

In 1962, 1963, and 1965, he stood as a candidate for the House of Commons of Canada in Wellington South.^[a] After moving to Toronto, he then stood once more as a candidate in Scarborough West in the 1968 federal election. He won a seat in the House of Commons in the 1972 federal election, but was defeated in 1974. He continued to campaign in subsequent elections there up to 1980. In addition, he sought the NDP nomination in the 1978 federal byelection for Broadview, but lost out to Bob Rae.^[7]

He was the Provincial Secretary for the Ontario New Democratic Party from 1966 to 1970. In that time, he was also the campaign manager for that party's breakthrough campaign in the 1967 general election.^[8]

He campaigned to become national leader at the NDP's 1971 leadership convention, coming in third behind winner David Lewis and runner-up James Laxer. He stood as a candidate again at the 1975 leadership convention,^[9] where he got as far as the second ballot, coming in fourth. In 1981, he became involved in party debates concerning the forthcoming adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, arguing that it was silent about labour rights to organize, strike and bargain.^[10]

Born in Quebec and fluently bilingual, Harney returned to the province and became leader of the Quebec wing of the federal NDP in 1984. He continued to teach at York University, while living in Sillery.^[1] He led the relaunching of the New Democratic Party of Quebec as a provincial party in 1985^[11] but was unable to win a seat either in the federal House of Commons (running in Lévis in two elections) or in the Quebec National Assembly (running in Louis-Hébert).^[12] In Quebec, he went by "Jean-Paul".^[13][14]

Late in the 1988 federal election campaign, he was one of seven candidates who took part in a press conference in which they supported using the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Constitution to protect Quebec's francophone culture and restrict the use of other languages.^[15] Some analysts believed that it cost the party support among Quebec's anglophones.^[16] He stepped down later that year. Although he favoured the Bloc Québécois position on Quebec sovereignty, he refused to consider becoming one of its candidates as long as it pursued independence from Canada.^[5]

Harney died in Picton, Ontario on October 4, 2021.^[17][18]

Federal

Wellington South

More information Party, Candidate ...

v t e 1962 Canadian federal election: Wellington South
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Alfred Hales	11,345	42.0	-17.4
	Liberal	Roy McVittie	8,508	31.5	-0.6
	New Democratic	John Paul Harney	6,989	25.9	17.4
	Social Credit	Reginald Youd	174	0.6	0.6
Total valid votes			27,016	100.0

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More information Party, Candidate ...

v t e 1963 Canadian federal election: Wellington South
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Alfred Hales	11,350	39.7	-2.3
	Liberal	Ralph Dent	10,713	37.5	6.0
	New Democratic	John Paul Harney	6,391	22.3	-3.6
	Social Credit	Reginald Youd	150	0.5	-0.1
Total valid votes			28,604	100.0

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More information Party, Candidate ...

v t e 1965 Canadian federal election: Wellington South
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Alfred Hales	11,264	38.8	-0.9
	New Democratic	John Paul Harney	9,190	31.6	7.3
	Liberal	Donald E. McFadzen	8,595	29.6	-7.9
Total valid votes			29,049	100.0

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Scarborough West

More information 1968 Canadian federal election, Party ...

1968 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David WEATHERHEAD	14,889	42.9
	New Democratic	John Paul HARNEY	12,473	35.9
	Progressive Conservative	Herb CROSBY	7,340	21.2
Total valid votes			34,702	100.00

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More information 1972 Canadian federal election, Party ...

1972 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	John Paul HARNEY	15,028	36.4	+0.5
	Liberal	David WEATHERHEAD	13,635	33.0	-9.9
	Progressive Conservative	Basil CLARK	12,539	30.4	+9.2
	Independent	Roger TENTREY	103	0.2	+0.2
Total valid votes			41,305	100.00

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More information 1974 Canadian federal election, Party ...

1974 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alan MARTIN	13,702	36.6	+3.6
	New Democratic	John Paul HARNEY	12,298	32.8	-3.6
	Progressive Conservative	Basil CLARK	11,339	30.2	-0.2
	Marxist–Leninist	Linda TURNBULL	89	0.2	+0.2
	Independent	Harold ROWBOTTOM	61	0.2	0.0
Total valid votes			37,489	100.00

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More information 1979 Canadian federal election, Party ...

1979 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Bill WIGHTMAN	15,697	36.4	+6.2
	Liberal	Alan MARTIN	13,523	31.4	-5.2
	New Democratic	John Paul HARNEY	13,437	31.2	-1.6
	Libertarian	D'Arcy J. CAIN	257	0.6	+0.6
	Communist	Tom BULL	114	0.3	+0.3
	Marxist–Leninist	Brenda MILLER	56	0.1	-0.1
Total valid votes			43,084	100.00

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More information 1980 Canadian federal election, Party ...

1980 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David WEATHERHEAD	14,316	35.1	+3.7
	New Democratic	John Paul HARNEY	13,146	32.2	+1.0
	Progressive Conservative	Bill WIGHTMAN	12,744	31.3	-5.1
	Libertarian	D'Arcy J. CAIN	401	1.0	+0.4
	Communist	John MACLENNAN	92	0.2	-0.1
	Marxist–Leninist	Brenda MILLER	66	0.2	+0.1
Total valid votes			40,765	100.00

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Lévis

More information 1984 Canadian federal election, Party ...

1984 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Gabriel Fontaine	32,338	49.6
	Liberal	Gaston Gourde	17,283	26.4
	New Democratic	Jean-Paul Harney	12,076	18.5
	Parti nationaliste	Antoine Dubé	1,649	2.5
	Rhinoceros	Raymond Emiliano Marquis	1,630	2.5
	Social Credit	Jean-Paul Rhéaume	216	0.3
Total valid votes			65,192	100.0

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More information 1988 Canadian federal election, Party ...

1988 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Gabriel Fontaine	33,673	57.4	7.8
	Liberal	Denis Sonier	13,002	22.2	-4.2
	New Democratic	Jean-Paul Harney	11,501	19.6	1.1
	Social Credit	Jean-Paul Rhéaume	445	0.8	0.5
Total valid votes			58,621	100.0

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Quebec

Louis-Hébert

More information Party, Candidate ...

1985 Quebec general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Réjean Doyon	16,913	51.9	-0.9
	Parti Québécois	Louise Beaudoin	12,279	37.7	-6.4
	New Democratic	Jean-Paul Harney	2,798	8.6	+8.6
	Progressive Conservative	Claudette J. Hethrington	287	0.9	+0.9
	Independent	Emmanuel Le Brasseur	252	0.8	+0.8
	Christian Socialist	Michel Durocher	58	0.2	+0.2

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