EULOGY FOR JOHN TURNER
Dr. Richard Alway
The following is Dr. Richard Alway’s eulogy for the Right Honourable John Napier Wyndham Turner (1929 - 2020), Canada’s 17th Prime Minister, delivered at the State Funeral Mass on October 6, 2020:
Ce matin nous venons ensemble dans cette grande cathédrale afin de souligner et célébrer la vie longue et distinguée d’un grand Canadien.
“J’ai combattu jusqu’au bout le bon combat.
J’ai achevé ma course.
J’ai gardé la foi.”
Paroles écrites par Saint Paul il y a deux mille ans – paroles que nous appliquons aujourd’hui à notre collègue et ami, John Turner.
Prime Minister, Your Eminence, Geills, Elizabeth, Michael, David, Andrew, members of the Turner family, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen . . .
Today we say goodbye to a great Canadian. It has been two weeks since John Turner died, and politicians and commentators have testified eloquently to his role in our national story.
Lawyer, politician, and passionate Canadian, he played a leading role in our political life, holding the most senior positions in government during a public career that spanned parts of four decades.
But, I would like to begin by remembering John Turner, the private man, as I knew him – someone who lived a full life in every sense of the word, but who found his personal lodestar in a trinity of simple values – faith, family and friends. He was by any measure a serious Christian and Catholic, ecumenical in outlook, who considered the priesthood well into his 20’s. In the past few months, housebound, he told me he was reading the Bible every day – he said when he finished it, he was going to start over again. He found meaning and comfort there. His own effort to reconcile a strong religious faith with public service in a secular and pluralistic society was a constant theme throughout his political career.
And family. That was a commitment that was rock solid. When John withdrew from politics in 1975, by far the strongest motivation was to devote more time to a young family and to provide fully for their education and future. His full and equal partnership with Geills over almost six decades stands as almost unique in modern political life. Elizabeth, Michael, David, Andrew, you know how much your father loved you, how proud he was of each one of you and how much he depended on your and your mother’s love for him. This certain knowledge must always remain with you in your loss.
And friends. John was essentially a happy man. He had a positive personality and a gift for friendship. And, his friends are legion – spanning the 80 years from youthful summers at Camp Temagami to former young Liberals generations his junior whom he helped recruit for his party. Both ends of that spectrum are represented here today.
And friends made in politics from all parties. Sharing a drink or two and lively conversation could never be restricted by partisan boundaries.
Widely regarded as the leading English-Canadian Liberal of his generation, John Turner has been described by one prominent Canadian historian as, ˝the George Brown of his political times, a giant. Unlike Brown, he did become prime minister, albeit briefly . . . but like Brown, Turner deeply affected the central debates of Canadian political life for more than a generation. ̋ And it was to John Turner, with his pragmatic, conciliatory style and capacity for fostering relationships, that Pierre Trudeau, as prime minister, turned, to deal with premiers on the run-up to the Victoria Charter on the constitution, to shepherd the judicial omnibus Justice bill through Parliament and to sell official bilingualism to the Western premiers. Later, keeping his badly divided party together through Meech Lake and free trade was John’s greatest challenger as its leader.
But, whenever he was asked what he valued most about his accomplishments in public life, John always mentioned legal aid, because its introduction made the justice system fairer and more accessible to all Canadians. Also, the changes he made to the system for appointing judges, which put merit ahead of politics – (one looks to our south today to see the value of that reform). And always, above all else, was the deep satisfaction that came from representing his fellow citizens.
Elected to Parliament from three different provinces – in three distinct regions of the country, he was proud above all else to sit in the House of Commons – proud to be known as a ˝House of Commons man. ̋
When John Turner entered public life in the 1960’s, belief in government and its ability to act effectively for the common good was at its height. Political fashion changed in the decades that followed. John Turner did not. He believed that progress in human affairs was possible and he never stopped trying to evangelize young people that their personal involvement in the public life of Canada was the greatest contribution they could make to its future.
But, in the end, what marked John Turner was not power or charm, or the effect of personality. What attracted people to him was something he represented; something, as has been said, that all of us as children reading the story of our country’s history have looked for in our national leaders and certainly found in him – largeness of mind, unquestioned integrity, endless perseverance and, above all, an almost religious devotion to his country’s need.
May his memory be a blessing and may he rest in peace. Goodbye, old friend.
. . .
Dr. Richard Alway - Dr. Richard Alway is currently Praeses of the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies and serves as Chairman of the C.D. Howe Memorial Foundation, Chair of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada and Vice-Chair of the Official Residences Committee of the National Capital Commission. Previously, he was President and Vice-chancellor of the University of St. Michael’s College, at the University of Toronto, for three six-year terms and recently served as Ministry Supervisor of the Toronto Catholic District School Board.
Dr. Alway has served on or chaired a number of national cultural boards and advisory committees, including the Board of Trustees of the National Museums of Canada, the National Gallery of Canada, the National Museum of Natural Sciences and the National Postal Museum. He was Chair and CEO of the Ontario Heritage Foundation and served on the board of the Canadian Opera Company.
He has also served on the boards of several voluntary associations, including the Canadian Educational Standards Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital and the Belmont House Foundation. In addition to his service as Publisher of the Catholic Register at the request of Cardinal Emmett Carter, Alway was the founding Chairman of the Cathedral Council of St. Michael’s Cathedral. He has served as a member of the Millennium Planning Committee of the Archdiocese of Toronto and was a member of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities of Canada. A founder of the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute, he served as Vice-Chair of its board and Chair of its executive committee under His Eminence Aloysius Cardinal Ambrozic. He served as Acting Director of the National Gallery during its construction phase in Ottawa.
President Alway is an Officer of the Order of Canada (appointed a Member in 1989, promoted in 1998) and a member of the Order of Ontario (2000) in recognition of his public service contributions. In 1999, he was appointed Knight Grand Cross with Star, Order of St. Gregory the Great, by His Holiness Pope John Paul II.
The views expressed belong to the author.
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