Jack MacLaren is a past president of the Ontario Landowners Association and graduated with a BSc in civil engineering from Queen's University in 1972.
22 Facts About Jack MacLaren
1.
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Jack MacLaren won the nomination with the help of one of Sterling's fellow MPPs, Randy Hillier.
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Jack MacLaren was re-elected in the June 2014 provincial election defeating Liberal candidate Rosalyn Stevens by 10,029 votes.
4.
On July 4,2014, it was announced that Jack MacLaren would continue to be the party's critic for Senate and Democratic Reform.
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In November 2014, Jack MacLaren introduced a private member's bill to repeal the law that grants environmental protections for the Niagara Escarpment for the second time.
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The bill was named for a late friend of Jack MacLaren's named Bob Mackie who was fighting to prevent the closure of an illegal archery range on his property on the escarpment.
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Jack MacLaren was the second MPP to back former federal Conservative Patrick Brown's successful bid for leadership in the 2015 Progressive Conservative leadership election, bringing with him the supporter of the small but dedicated Ontario Landowners Association.
8.
In June 2015, Jack MacLaren was accused of betraying social conservative values by Nick Vandergragt, a conservative radio talk show host on Ottawa's CFRA for marching in that year's Toronto Pride parade alongside PC leader Patrick Brown and other conservatives, both federal and provincial.
9.
Jack MacLaren was named his party's Critic for Natural Resources and Forestry on September 10,2015, as well as the vice-chair of the relevant committee.
10.
Also in Fall 2015, Brown chose Jack MacLaren to replace fellow Ottawa PC MPP Lisa MacLeod as the party's critic for Eastern Ontario.
11.
On November 26,2015, Jack MacLaren officially invited a "group of friends and guests" from the Tamil community to hear him make a speech in Queen's Park about the "genocidal onslaught for the Tamils" in Sri Lanka.
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Jack MacLaren refused to comment and the Progressive Conservatives dismissed the claims in the story.
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Jack MacLaren emailed an apology to McCrimmon after the story was first reported by the Toronto Star.
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Jack MacLaren then issued an apology for the improper use of constituent testimonials and had his website taken offline.
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Jack MacLaren kept his position as the shadow cabinet critic for natural resources, the chair of a party panel on property rights, and as an ambassador to ethnic communities.
16.
Brown ordered Jack MacLaren to go on indefinite leave from the Legislature to focus on constituency work and to undergo sensitivity training.
17.
On May 31,2016, Jack MacLaren returned to Queen's Park after completing his sensitivity training.
18.
Brown said that while there had been rumours of Jack MacLaren leaving to potentially form his own party, Brown personally was unaware of Jack MacLaren's plan to join the Trillium Party until after he found out about the video and expelled him.
19.
Jack MacLaren said that he felt he could serve his constituents better with the Trillium Party, and that the Progressive Conservatives had no values and its establishment was anti-democratic.
20.
Jack MacLaren characterized Solomon's questions on the reasoning for his dismissal as "talking about something that isn't helping anybody" and a valueless waste of time.
21.
Since the Trillium Party lacked official party status in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Jack MacLaren was officially counted as an independent.
22.
Jack MacLaren finished fifth out of seven candidates after losing over half of his vote from 2014.