John Carnell Crosbie (January 30, 1931 – January 10, 2020) was a Canadian provincial and federal politician who served as the 12th lieutenant governor of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Prior to being lieutenant governor, he served as a provincial cabinet minister under Premiers Joey Smallwood and Frank Moores as well as a federal cabinet minister during the Progressive Conservative (PC) governments of Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney. Crosbie held several federal cabinet posts, including minister of finance, minister of justice, minister of transport, minister of international trade, and minister of fisheries and oceans.
Crosbie was best known for his outspoken, blunt, and controversial rhetoric. However, at the same time he was seen as a leader of the social liberal wing of the PC Party. He advocated for gay and lesbian rights and was pro-choice regarding abortion as far back as when he was federal Minister of Justice.
Crosbie ran unsuccessfully for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1969, losing to Smallwood, and was also a candidate in the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada's 1983 leadership election, placing third.
Born in the pre-confederation St. John's, Newfoundland. He was the son of Jessie (Carnell) and Chesley Crosbie, and grandson of Sir John Chalker Crosbie. His father was leader of the Economic Union Party in the 1940s and a leading opponent of the campaign for Newfoundland to join Canadian Confederation. His grandfather served briefly as Prime Minister of the Dominion.
Crosbie's early education was in local schools and at St. Andrew's College, Aurora, Ontario. He went on to study political science and economics at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, where he graduated with first-class honours and won the University Medal in political science.
Crosbie went on to study law at Dalhousie Law School in Halifax, Nova Scotia graduating in 1956 as the University Medalist in Law. He was awarded the Viscount Bennett Scholarship by the Canadian Bar Association as the outstanding law student for that year. He undertook postgraduate studies at the Institute for Advanced Legal Studies of the University of London and the London School of Economics in 1956-1957, and was called to the Newfoundland Bar in 1957. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree by Dalhousie University in May 1984.
Local and provincial political career
Crosbie first entered politics as a councillor of the St. John's City Council in 1965, and was briefly deputy mayor in 1966. He served on council until he was appointed to the provincial cabinet of Liberal Premier Joey Smallwood in 1966. Crosbie was sworn in as Minister of Municipal and Housing, and soon after won a seat in the House of Assembly. As Minister he was responsible for the creation of the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation.
In 1967, Crosbie became Minister of Health and was instrumental in creating the Newfoundland Medicare Commission and the framework for the Newfoundland Medicare Plan. Smallwood's government had been in power since 1949, and the Premier was trying to rejuvenate his cabinet by bringing in new blood. Smallwood's authoritarian style and refusal to allow a younger generation to take power frustrated Crosbie and other young ministers, such as Clyde Wells. In protest of a deal Smallwood wanted to make with American industrialist John Shaheen over an oil refinery at Come By Chance, Crosbie and Wells resigned from the caucus to sit as Reform Liberals, while remaining members of the Liberal Party.
In 1969, Smallwood announced his retirement from politics. However, when Crosbie, who had resigned from caucus, became the apparent front runner to succeed him as leader Smallwood decided to run for the leadership of the party. Smallwood won the leadership race and Crosbie crossed the floor to join the opposition Progressive Conservative Party, led by Frank Moores.
The Progressive Conservatives were now seen as a viable alternative to the Liberal Party, and in 1972 Crosbie helped the Tories defeat Smallwood and come to power. In Moore's government Crosbie held the portfolios of Minister of Finance, President of the Treasury Board, and Minister of Economic Development; Minister of Fisheries and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs; Minister of Mines and Energy; and Government House Leader. He left provincial politics in 1976 to enter federal politics.
Crosbie won the seat of St. John's West in the House of Commons of Canada in a by-election on October 18, 1976 as a candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, which was in Opposition at the time.
When Joe Clark's Progressive Conservatives formed a minority government after the 1979 general election, Crosbie was appointed Minister of Finance. He presented a tough budget that included tax increases in what Crosbie quipped was "short term pain for long term gain." A motion of no confidence on the budget brought the Clark government down on December 13, 1979, resulting in a new election which the Tories lost. Clark's government would last a total of nine months less a day. Crosbie famously described it as: "Long enough to conceive, just not long enough to deliver."
Though a leadership convention was not called following their defeat at the polls, Crosbie felt that a convention would be held in the near future. In 1981, he quietly organized a team for his prospective leadership bid, while making sure not to undermine Clark's leadership. At a leadership review held at the party's general meeting, in Winnipeg, in 1983, 66.9% of delegates voted against holding a leadership convention. Clark felt however that this was not a strong mandate and recommended that the party executive hold a leadership convention at the earliest possible time, in which he would be a candidate.
A leadership convention was called for later that year, and Crosbie announced his candidacy. At the convention he placed third behind Brian Mulroney and Clark on all three ballots. While Crosbie may have been the most popular of the candidates, he was hurt by his inability to speak French. His response that he did not know how to speak Chinese either was not well received. Less notable was the failure of the "John Crosbie blimp" to operate properly during his campaign's demonstration on the floor of the convention.
Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau retired as his party's leader in 1984 and was replaced by John Turner. Mulroney subsequently defeated Turner by leading the Tories to power in the 1984 federal election. Crosbie was named Minister of Justice in Mulroney's first cabinet. In 1985, while justice minister, he attracted attention when, in a heated moment during parliamentary debate, he told Liberal Member of Parliament Sheila Copps "Just quiet down, baby," prompting Copps to respond, "I'm nobody's baby."
In 1986, he was named Minister of Transport. A lifelong supporter of free trade with the United States, in cabinet he was one of the strongest proponents of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. He became Minister for International Trade in 1988, shortly after the free trade agreement was negotiated. Crosbie actively promoted the agreement in that year's federal election, which was primarily fought on the issue. Crosbie was also a supporter of redress for Japanese Canadians interned during World War Two - in September 1988 the Mulroney government made its historic apology in the House of Commons and compensated each surviving internee with $18,000.
In 1990, Crosbie proposed the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Crosbie was proud of his baby; in his autobiography he writes: