John Harvard (politician)

John Harvard (June 4, 1938-) is a journalist, politician and office holder in Manitoba, Canada. He served as a federal MP from 1988 to 2004, and was appointed as the Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba just before Canada's 2004 federal election.

Harvard was born in Glenboro, Manitoba, and was a broadcast journalist from 1957 to 1988. He worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for eighteen years, and was for many years the host of a popular call-in show in Winnipeg. Ironically, his predecessor as Lt. Governor was Peter M. Liba, who worked as a journalist for CBC's competitor CanWest.

Harvard was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1988 as a Liberal in the upscale riding of Winnipeg-St. James, defeating incumbent Progressive Conservative George Minaker by 18695 votes to 16993 (in the previous election, the Liberal candidate had finished third). Harvard was a backbench member of the parliamentary opposition from 1988 to 1993.

The Liberal Party won the 1993 federal election, and Harvard was easily re-elected in Winnipeg-St. James (receiving 21628 votes, against 8249 for his nearest competitor, Reformer Peter Blumenschein). He was not appointed to cabinet, but was named Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services in 1996.

Harvard was again re-elected without difficulty in the federal election of 1997, running in the redistributed riding of Charleswood-Assiniboine. He became Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food after the election, but was dropped from the role entirely in 1998.

Harvard faced his most difficult election in 2000, narrowly defeating his Canadian Alliance challenger Cyril McFate by 13901 votes to 11569 (Progressive Conservative Curtis Moore was third with 9991).

Harvard was for many years a supporter of Paul Martin for the Liberal Party's leadership, and it was perhaps for this reason that he was never called into the cabinet of Jean Chretien. As early as 2000, Harvard publicly suggested that Chretien should consider stepping down as party leader. When Martin became Prime Minister on December 12, 2003, Harvard was sworn in to the Privy Council as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade.

Harvard resigned his parliamentary seat on May 6, 2004. The next day, it was announced that he would be appointed by Martin as Lt. Governor of Manitoba. He was officially sworn in on June 30. The appointment allowed Winnipeg Mayor Glen Murray to contest the (renamed) riding of Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia in the 2004 federal election (unsuccessfully, as it turned out).

The position of Lt. Governor is largely ceremonial, and Harvard holds very little direct influence over the government of Manitoba.