Charles Beer 1059137 161231357 2007-09-30T02:00:53Z Bobo192 97951 Removed character {{Unreferenced|date=June 2007}} '''John Charles McWaters Beer''' (born [[November 24]], [[1941]] in [[Toronto]], [[Ontario]] to [[Harry M. Beer]] and Elizabeth Greenway Holmes) is a former [[Canada|Canadian]] politician. He was a [[Ontario Liberal Party|Liberal]] member of the [[Legislative Assembly of Ontario]] from [[1987]] to [[1995]], and served as a [[cabinet minister]] in the government of [[David Peterson]]. == Life and career == Beer was educated at the [[University of Toronto]], [[York University]], [[Université Laval]] and the [[National Defence College]]. He worked as an educator after graduating, and was the Assistant Headmaster of Pickering College from [[1981]] to [[1986]]. In [[1987]], he served as director of the Ontario Conference of Independent Schools. He first ran for the Ontario legislature in the [[Ontario general election, 1977|1977 provincial election]], but finished a distant third against [[Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario|Progressive Conservative]] [[Frank Drea]] in [[Scarborough Centre]]. He campaigned for the legislature again in the [[Ontario general election, 1981|1981 election]], but lost to Progressive Conservative [[Margaret Birch]] in [[Scarborough East]]. Beer was elected to the Ontario legislature on his third attempt, in the [[Ontario general election, 1987|1987 election]] in which the [[Ontario Liberal Party|Liberal Party]] won a landslide majority. He defeated Progressive Conservative candidate John Cole by 5,185 votes in [[York Mackenzie]], located just north of Toronto. Beer was appointed a [[parliamentary assistant]] in [[1988]], and was promoted to [[Minister of Community and Social Services (Ontario)|Minister of Community and Social Services]] and [[Minister responsible for Francophone Affairs (Ontario)|Minister responsible for Francophone Affairs]] on [[August 2]], [[1989]]. In the former capacity, he started the Advisory Group on New Social Assistance Legislation in [[1990]]. The Liberals were unexpectedly defeated in the [[Ontario general election, 1990|1990 provincial election]], and Beer was re-elected over Progressive Conservative candidate [[George Timpson]] by only 158 votes in the new riding of [[York—Mackenzie]] ([[Ontario New Democratic Party]] candidate [[Keith Munro]] was a close third). Peterson resigned as Liberal leader immediately after the election, and Beer ran to succeed him in the [[Ontario Liberal leadership conventions|leadership convention]] that was called in [[1992]]. He finished fourth, withdrawing from the contest after the third ballot. There are reports that Beer was forced to mortgage his house to pay for his leadership campaign. Beer is on the left wing of the Liberal Party, and played a significant role in developing the party's "Red Book" platform for the [[Ontario general election, 1995|1995 provincial campaign]]. The Progressive Conservatives won a majority government in this election, however, and Beer was among the Liberal incumbents defeated; losing to [[Frank Klees]], later a cabinet minister in the government of [[Mike Harris]], by almost 12,000 votes. In [[1996]], he endorsed [[Gerard Kennedy]]'s unsuccessful bid to become leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. In the late 1990s, Beer served as the president and Chief Executive Officer of the [[Canadian Executive Service Organization]], a not-for-profit agency that transfers Canadian technical and managerial expertise to developing countries. Today, he works for the current Liberal government of [[Dalton McGuinty]] as executive assistant to [[George Smitherman]], the Minister of Health and Long Term Care. He is also honorary chair of the [[Stephen Lewis]] [http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org Foundation]. ==External links== *[http://www.oha.com/Client/OHA/OHA_LP4W_LND_WebStation.nsf/page/Charles+Beer!OpenDocument Ontario Hospital Association bio] {{DEFAULTSORT:Beer, Charles}} [[Category:1941 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Liberal Party of Ontario MPPs]] [[Category:People from Toronto]]