John Godfrey

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Hon. John Ferguson Godfrey

Incumbent
Riding	Don Valley West
In office since	1993 election
Preceded by	John Bosley
Born	December 14, 1942 (age 64) Toronto
Residence	Ottawa
Political party	Liberal
Profession(s)	Economist, historian, journalist, research administrator
Spouse	Trish Godfrey

This article is about the Canadian politician. For other people named John Godfrey, see John Godfrey (disambiguation)

John Ferguson Godfrey, PC , MP , Ph.D , M.Phil , BA (born December 19, 1942) is a Canadian politician.

Contents 1 Education 2 Early career 3 Politics 4 Minister of State for Infrastructure and Communities 5 Liberal Leadership 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Education

Born in Toronto, Ontario, he graduated from Upper Canada College in 1960. In 1961, he attended the Neuchâtel Junior College in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. In 1965, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Trinity College, University of Toronto and in 1967, he received a Master of Philosophy from Balliol College, Oxford.

[edit] Early career

Prior to entering politics, Godfrey was an economist, historian and journalist.

In the mid-1970's Godfrey was a history professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He served as president of University of King's College from 1977-87.

From 1987 to 1991 he was editor of the Financial Post.

[edit] Politics

He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons as the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for the Toronto area riding of Don Valley West in the 1993 election, and has been re-elected in each subsequent vote.

During the 1995 Quebec referendum, Godfrey had an acquaintance perform a psychiatric evaluation of separatist leader Lucien Bouchard[1].

In 1996, he and fellow Liberal MP Peter Milliken introduced the Godfrey-Milliken Bill a parody of the American Helms-Burton Act. The gesture received extensive media coverage including in the United States, where Godfrey was featured on the CBS program '60 Minutes'. From 1996 to 2004, Godfrey served as a Parliamentary Secretary under Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.

[edit] Minister of State for Infrastructure and Communities

In 2003, Paul Martin succeeded Chrétien as Liberal leader and prime minister. Following the subsequent 2004 election, Godfrey, among other key Martin allies, was appointed to the Cabinet in the role of Minister of State for Infrastructure and Communities. In this role, he has been primarily responsible for overseeing the "New Deal for Cities", Federation of Canadian Municipalities relationship, and other initiatives in Canadian federal-municipal relations. This role is considered a keystone of Martin's industrial strategy.

According to Auditor General of Canada Sheila Fraser, Canada lags far behind the US and UK in municipal performance audits for government, in applying its own statements to procurement, and in direct federal standards applying to municipal operations. Godfrey is tasked with dealing with these substantial problems, a role complicated by the fact that, constitutionally, provinces in Canada have formal jurisdiction over cities and municipalities, and have blocked most necessary changes in funding and operations. This is markedly different than in the US where the General Accounting Office has applied specific accounting standards, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency has required specific upgrades to city emergency responses. As in major American cities, federal support of a municipal emergency response is a problem of particular concern in Godfrey's home city of Toronto, following the SARS outbreak, the August 2003 blackout and smog and snow crises. Toronto is also considered to be the primary target for any asymmetric warfare/terrorist attack on Canada.

As an additional complexity, Canadian cities faced with gridlock and smog problems due to commuting and urban sprawl, now face Kyoto Accord requirements to cut greenhouse gas output.

To deal with these problems, on a national level, Godfrey has been directly involved in negotiations regarding climate change auditing and other municipal performance indicators that would apply at least to cities in Canada, and eventually to all municipalities.

[edit] Liberal Leadership

On February 3, 2006, CBC Newsworld's Don Newman announced on air that his sources say Godfrey is planning a run for the Liberal Party leadership (.ram). Godfrey declared his candidacy on Goldhawk Live on March 19, shortly after the rules and convention date were set. Media reaction was positive, but competed with low-brow coverage of Ashley MacIsaac, who declared his intention to run to the Halifax Daily News the next day.

In the early stages of the campaign he was recurrently cited as exemplar of intellectualism in the race, being one of three former university professors in the running. Name-recognition remained a challenge, but Godfrey received plaudits in the Canadian blogosphere [2] for his performance in the first all-candidates meeting at the Liberal Party of Alberta convention in April 8th.

On April 12, 2006, Godfrey announced his withdrawal from the race, due to concerns about his health. [3] On October 20, 2006, Godfrey announced his support for Bob Rae for the federal Liberal leadership. He made the announcement at the National Press Club, on the occasion of a speech by Mr. Rae on the environment.

[edit] References

• Canadian Who's Who 1997 entry. Retrieved on March 21, 2006.
• How'd They Vote?: John Godfrey's voting history and quotes
• Federal Political Biography from the Library of Parliament

[edit] External links

• Web site of John Godfrey

27th Ministry - Government of Paul Martin
Cabinet Post
Predecessor	Office	Successor
	Minister of State (Infrastructure and Communities) (2004–2006)

Preceded by John Bosley, Progressive Conservative

Member of Parliament for Don Valley West 1993-

Succeeded by Incumbent

2006 Liberal leadership candidates
Brison | Dion | Dryden | Hall Findlay | Ignatieff | Kennedy | Rae | Volpe