Heward Grafftey
William Heward Grafftey, PC ( * August 5, 1928 in Montreal, † 11 February 2010) was a Canadian politician.
Biography
After schooling, he studied Political Science and History at the Mount Allison University and finished this study with a Bachelor of Arts (BA). He then completed a postgraduate degree in Civil Law from McGill University and completed this with a Bachelor of Cicil Law (BCL ). After his admission to the Bar of Quebec, he worked as a lawyer.
Grafftey, because of his small size and his constituency had the nickname "The Gnome from Brome ," his political career began in the elections in 1958 with the first election for Members of the House of Commons. There he represented for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC ) the interests of the constituency Brome - Missisquoui. Between 1962 and 1963 he was Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Finance in the cabinet of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker. In the general election in 1968, he lost his constituency because of the nationwide success of the Liberal Party of Pierre Trudeau.
In the 1972 election, however, succeeded Grafftey to be elected as a representative of the constituency Brome - Missisquoui again for the Members of the House. In the government of then Prime Minister Joe Clark, he was from June to October 1979 Minister of State for social programs as well as from October 1979 to March 1980 Minister of State for Science and Technology. But after an internal party dispute with Clark, he lost in the elections for the lower house in 1980 again his mandate. Despite the tension to Clark he supported this in 1983 with his candidacy for re-election as Chairman of the PC. After Clark but his party rival Brian Mulroney was subject to Grafftey retired for almost twenty years from politics and devoted himself to his work as a businessman.
In 2000 he ran again for the PC in the general election, but suffered a defeat. In 2002 he was one of the first demanding the resignation of Joe Clark as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party after Clark this function held again in 1998. In 2003, he announced his candidacy, although even for the post of chairman of the PC, pulled this but in May 2003 for health reasons back.