Heward Grafftey R.I.P.

Heward Grafftey on Wednesday-Night.com

 
(Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

“He made his political mark as a dogged champion of social causes and a fervent egalitarian. He persistently railed against establishment political machinations and often found himself an outsider in his own party for the unquenchable habit of freely speaking his maverick mind.” Hubert Bauch in a May 2008 profile

Heward Grafftey, 1928-2010
(The Gazette) A scion of Quebec’s old anglophone commercial elite, Progressive Conservative Heward Grafftey made himself into a voice for common sense and co-operation, in the House of Commons, in his riding in the Townships, and in everything he did.
Grafftey, who died this week at 81, was called “the gnome from Brome” but his tenacity in withstanding Liberal electoral tides was gigantic. The late Arthur Blakely, longtime Gazette bureau chief in Ottawa, once observed that “Heward Grafftey doesn’t so much campaign in a riding as he lays siege to it.” He was elected seven times.
He will be remembered with affection and respect.

Alan Hustak: ‘The bad boy of Montreal’s blue bloods’ brought common sense to politics
Former Progressive Conservative MP and Joe Clark cabinet minister Heward Grafftey, 81, dies in hospital.
Heward Grafftey, known affectionately as the Gnome from Brome during his years in politics, was the maverick Progressive Conservative MP from Quebec who served as minister of science in Joe Clark’s short-lived government.
A scrappy, grass-roots politician, Mr. Grafftey represented the Brome-Missisquoi riding as a Conservative for 18 years during a time when Liberals dominated federal politics in the province. He lost two elections as an MP, once during the wave of Trudeaumania that swept the country in 1968, and again in 1980, when he rebelled against his party leader, Joe Clark.
When Mr. Grafftey lost his seat in 1968, he cooled his heels writing The Senseless Sacrifice: A Black Paper on Medicine , which anticipated a health-care crisis in Canada. He also wrote three guides to automobile safety.

Long-time MP a dogged champion of social causes
Irrepressible politician hailed as pioneer in promoting French-English relations
Heward Grafftey, the Progressive-Conservative MP who carried the flame for the party in its most barren days in Quebec, has died following complications from Parkinson’s disease. He was 81.
Described endearingly by Allan Fotherhingham as the Gnome from Brome, he representing Brome-Mississquoi riding in the House of Commons for a total of 18 years.
He is survived by his three children, Arthur Heward, Clement Tae Yong and Leah Yoon Hee. His marriage to Alida Grace Visser ended in divorce.
A private funeral and public memorial is planned for the near future.

Former Progressive Conservative MP Heward Grafftey dies