Caledon Public Library, Bolton, ON, public meeting, David Orchard and The Hon. Sinclair Stevens, November 30, 2004

Photo: Ken Fuhr

Sinclair Stevens whose court case against Elections Canada for illegally dissolving the Progressive Conservative party is under appeal, was first elected to parliament in 1972 and became Minister for Regional Industrial Expansion in the first Mulroney government (1984-88). His political career ended abruptly in 1987, when he was found guilty of conflict of interest charges by a public inquiry. His efforts to clear his name were finally successful December 17, 2004, when a Federal Court judge overturned the inquiry report.

Known as a man not afraid to speak his mind, Sinclair Stevens protested Canada's participation in the U.S. led NATO attack on Yugoslavia in a Toronto Star opinion piece, July 15, 1999, The real winners of our participation in NATO's war.

In 2001, he defended the anti-globalization protesters in Quebec City in a strongly worded article published by the Globe and Mail, A Police State in the Making: Democracy Trampled in Quebec City.