Biography
John C. Crosbie, PC, OC, ONL, QC
John Carnell Crosbie became the 12th Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador in February 2008 following a distinguished career in public life and the law.
Mr. Crosbie’s early education was in St. John's, Newfoundland, and Aurora, Ontario. He studied political science and economics Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, graduating with first-class honours and winning the University Medal in political science.
He studied law at Dalhousie Law School, Halifax, Nova Scotia graduating in 1956 as the University Medalist in Law. He was awarded the Viscount Bennett Scholarship by the Canadian Bar Association as the outstanding law student for that year. During 1956-57 he undertook postgraduate studies at the Institute for Advanced Legal Studies of the University of London and the London School of Economics and was called to the Newfoundland Bar in 1957. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree by Dalhousie University in May 1984.
He was first elected to the House of Assembly in 1966 as a Liberal and joined the Cabinet of Premier Joseph R. Smallwood as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing where he was responsible for the creation of the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation. In 1967, Mr. Crosbie became Minister of Health and was instrumental in introducing and guiding through the House of Assembly the legislation that created the Newfoundland Medicare Commission and the framework for the Newfoundland Medicare Plan. Due to fundamental differences over economic policies with Newfoundland's Premier, Mr. Crosbie resigned in 1968.
In 1971, he was re-elected to the House of Assembly from the District of St. John's West as a Progressive Conservative. From 1971 until his move into federal politics in 1976, Mr. Crosbie successively held the portfolios of Minister of Finance, President of the Treasury Board, and Minister of Economic Development; Minister of Fisheries and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs; and, Minister of Mines and Energy and Minister for Intergovernmental Affairs. In addition, Mr. Crosbie was appointed Government House Leader in the House of Assembly in 1975.
He was elected to the House of Commons in 1976 and represented Newfoundland's federal district of St. John's West until his retirement from political life in 1993. He held several key portfolios in both the Clark and Mulroney administrations, serving as Minister of Finance during the Clark administration and, successively, as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Minister of Transport, Minister for International Trade, and Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and Minister for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA).
As Minister for International Trade, Mr. Crosbie was responsible for the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and its successor the US, Mexico, Canada or NAFTA Agreement, and oversaw the negotiation of other bilateral trade arrangements to enhance Canadian access to key foreign markets.
Mr. Crosbie had responsibility for Fisheries and Oceans and ACOA, two portfolios, critical to the economy of Atlantic Canada, when he introduced a major overhaul of the fish stock assessment process through the establishment of the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council, introduced a new National Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy, established a Conservation Council, established a Foreign Vessel Advisory Panel with respect to the use of foreign vessels in Canadian waters, established the Northern cod Adjustment and Recovery Program to assist some 25,000 fishermen and plant workers affected by the Northern Cod moratorium and entered into a salmon buy-back agreement terminating the last remaining commercial salmon fishery on the east coast of Canada and entering into a Federal-Provincial Salmon Conservation and Enhancement Agreement to improve the health of the wild Atlantic salmon stocks.
In June 1993, Mr. Crosbie decided to leave public life following twenty-eight years of public service.
In October, 1994, Mr. Crosbie was installed as Chancellor of Memorial University of Newfoundland and served as Chancellor until he became Lieutenant Governor. Mr. Crosbie has served on the boards of directors of several institutions, community based organizations and private companies, has practiced law as counsel to the Atlantic Law Firm Cox & Palmer of St. John's, and has received many honours, most notably, Officer of the Order of Canada in 1998.
In February 2008, Mr. Crosbie became Chancellor of the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador as well as Honorary Chief of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and, in October 2008, he became the Honorary Colonel of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. (These positions are tenable during the Lieutenant Governor’s term of Office.)
Mr. Crosbie is the author of a political autobiography “No Holds Barred” published in 1997 by McClelland & Stewart Inc.
Mr. Crosbie married Jane Ellen Furneaux on September 8, 1952. They have three children, Chesley, Michael and Beth and nine grandchildren.
Mrs. Jane Crosbie
Jane Ellen Audrey Furneaux Crosbie was born at St. John’s, NL, on January 15, 1931, the daughter of the late Dr. John N Furneaux, V.S., and Mary Margaret Clarke, and the third of their five children; Mildred, Douglas, Jane, Almeda and Heather.
Jane Crosbie was educated at Bishop Spencer College and the Mercy Convent in St. John’s. After working with Harvey & Company Limited, St. John’s, and the Cancer Clinic of the St. John’s General Hospital, she married John Carnell Crosbie, son of Chesley Arthur and Jessie (Carnell) Crosbie on September 8, 1952. The Crosbies have three children Chesley, Michael and Beth and nine grandchildren.
Jane Crosbie has been an associate and partner with her husband through all of his political campaigns for election to both the House of Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador and to the Parliament of Canada from 1966 to 1993. While her husband was a Member of Parliament from 1977 to 1993, she was active in both the P.C. Spouses Association and the Parliamentary Spouses Association, serving as the latter’s President from 1982 to 1984.
The Crosbies returned to private life in 1993, taking up residence near St. John’s. Mrs. Crosbie has since been active in a variety of charitable causes and in support of her husband’s activities.