Leader Thomas Mulcair Preceded by David Christopherson Name Jack Harris | Succeeded by James Bezan Preceded by Dominic Leblanc Residence St. John's, Canada | |
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Leader Jack Layton
Nycole Turmel Role Member of the Canadian House of Commons Office Member of the Canadian House of Commons since 2008 Previous office Member of the Canadian House of Commons (1987–1988) Education University of Alberta, London School of Economics and Political Science Profiles | ||
Succeeded by David Christopherson Political party New Democratic Party | ||
John James "Jack" Harris (born October 27, 1948) is a Canadian lawyer and politician from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Harris served as the New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament for St. John's East from 1987 to 1988 and again from 2008 to 2015. He is also a former leader of the Newfoundland and Labrador New Democratic Party.
Politics
Harris first became a member of the House of Commons of Canada after winning a by-election in the riding of St. John's East on July 20, 1987. Harris was the second NDP candidate ever elected to the House of Commons in Newfoundland and Labrador. He was subsequently defeated in the 1988 federal election.
Harris was elected to the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly in a 1990 by-election and was unopposed when he was elected to succeed Cle Newhook as leader of the provincial New Democrats at a party convention held November 1992. He was re-elected to the Legislature in the 1993, 1996, 1999 and 2003 elections. In 1997, Harris ran for Mayor of St. John's losing narrowly to Andy Wells. He was supported by Danny Williams in this election who had a public dispute with Wells regarding a strike in 1994. He retired from provincial politics in 2006 and was succeeded by Lorraine Michael as leader of the party as well as the Member of the House of Assembly for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi. At the time of his departure, his former law partner Danny Williams was Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador. Harris was succeeded as MHA and NDP leader by Lorraine Michael.
In the 2008 federal election Harris was again elected as the Member of Parliament for the riding of St. John's East. He received 74.1% of the vote, which was the fifth highest winning percentage in the election. Following the election Harris was appointed as the party's Critic for National Defence, and on several occasions has been named one of "The Backbench Top Ten", for his performance in the House of Commons, by Maclean's Magazine. Harris was re-elected in the 2011 federal election. He lost the 2015 election in an upset to Liberal Party candidate Nick Whalen.