Lorne Reznowski

Lorne Reznowski
Leader of the Social Credit Party
In office
May 7, 1978 – February 23, 1979
Preceded byCharles-Arthur Gauthier (acting)
Succeeded byCharles-Arthur Gauthier (acting)
Personal details
BornJanuary 5, 1929
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
DiedNovember 9, 2011(2011-11-09) (aged 82)
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
OccupationEnglish professor

Lorne Reznowski (January 5, 1929 – November 9, 2011) was a Canadian professor of English at the University of Manitoba and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada.[1][2]

Background

He was the son of Ukrainian-Canadians Lorne William Reznowski and Anna Angela Brokowska. Reznowski received a BA degree from Loyola College in Montreal in 1949 and then worked as a longshoreman on the Pacific coast. He graduated with a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. in 1957.[2]

He then studied at the University of Ottawa where he earned MA and PhD degrees in English Literature.[2]

He returned to Winnipeg in 1966 to teach at St. Paul’s College at the University of Manitoba and taught there until his retirement in 1993.[2]

He was active in the Social Credit Party since the age of 12 when he made radio broadcasts for the party.[2]

A one-time national secretary of the Social Credit Party, Reznowski once worked for former Socred leader Robert N. Thompson[3] and was a "doctrinal purist"[3] when it came to social credit monetary theory. He was the party's candidate in Provencher for the 1968 Canadian federal election, receiving 8.2% of the popular vote.[4]

Reznowski ran for the party leadership at its 1978 convention and was elected leader. He resigned four months after losing an October 16, 1978 by-election in Saint Boniface, Manitoba, in which he finished in fourth place with only 1,204 votes out of 43,572 valid votes (2.76%).[5][6]

Reznowski cited the need for him to finish his doctoral thesis in medieval literature in order to retain his teaching position for his resignation. However, he also said that the party wanted a francophone leader and that it would have a better chance of retaining its nine seats in the House of Commons of Canada, all of which were in Quebec, with a leader from that province. It had been hoped that Reznowski's leadership would help revive the party in its former base of Western Canada.[5]

Policies

Reznowski was described as a "doctrinal purist" who advocated the original social credit monetary theory of C.H. Douglas.[5] He promised that a Social Credit government would cut retail sales tax by 25 per cent and argued for moral responsibility in society with the family as its basic union. He also expressed his opposition to homosexuality, abortion, birth control and working mothers and his support for capital punishment.[7] Reznowki also argued that Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was soft on communism and that there was an imminent threat of a takeover of Canada by the Soviet Union.[7] As national party leader Reznowski criticized Bill Bennett, leader of the British Columbia Social Credit Party and Premier of British Columbia for rejecting social credit doctrine quipping that Ogopogo would be a better name for Bennett's party.[8]

Electoral history

1968 Canadian federal election: Provencher
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Mark Smerchanski 9,021 41.6 +2.7
Progressive Conservative Warner Jorgenson 7,791 36.0 -12.1
New Democratic Harry Blake-Knox 3,078 14.2 +10.2
Social Credit Lorne Reznowski 1,773 8.2 -0.7
Total valid votes 21,663 100.0
Canadian federal by-election, 16 October 1978
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
On Mr. Guay's resignation, 23 March 1978
Progressive Conservative Jack Hare 18,552 42.6 +6.4
Liberal Robert Bockstael 13,804 31.7 -10.9
New Democratic Grant Wichenko 9,570 22.0 +1.8
Social Credit Lorne Reznowski 1,204 2.8 +1.7
Independent Donald Bryan Oliver 281 0.6
Independent William Hawryluk 161 0.4
Total valid votes 43,572 100.0

References

  1. ^ "Dr. Deacon Lorne A. Reznowski". ObitsforLife.com. Retrieved 2012-01-17.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Memorable Manitobans: Lorne Anthony Reznowski (1929-2011)".
  3. ^ a b "Socreds sow new ideas.... ", Globe and Mail, March 13, 1978
  4. ^ History of Federal Ridings since 1867: Provencher, 1968 election, Parliament of Canada website
  5. ^ a b c Trueman, Mary (February 23, 1979). "Reznowski resigns, says Social Credit needs Quebec chief".
  6. ^ History of Federal Ridings since 1867: St. Boniface, October 16, 1978 by-election, Parliament of Canada website
  7. ^ a b Trueman, Mary (May 8, 1978). "Socreds pin party's hopes on new leader, old formula".
  8. ^ Canadian Press (May 18, 1978). "A monstrous proposal".
Preceded by National Leaders of Social Credit
1978–1979 		Succeeded by