John Loewen is a businessman and politician in Manitoba, Canada.
39 Facts About John Loewen
1.
2.
John Loewen served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1999 to 2005 as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party, and campaigned for the House of Commons of Canada in 2006 and 2008 as a Liberal.
3.
John Loewen is the nephew of Bill and Shirley Loewen, prominent entrepreneurs and philanthropists in Winnipeg.
4.
John Loewen received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Manitoba in 1973.
5.
Tall and athletic, John Loewen was a prominent member of the University of Manitoba Bisons basketball team.
6.
John Loewen joined the payroll services company Comcheq Services Ltd.
7.
John Loewen later served as company president from 1984 until 1998.
8.
In 1993, John Loewen oversaw Comcheq's transformation into a subsidiary of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.
9.
John Loewen attempted to reacquire the company in 1998, but was unsuccessful.
10.
John Loewen has for many years been a prominent figure supporting Manitoba's sports community.
11.
John Loewen developed a plan to financially support the province's Olympic athletes in the early 1990s, and helped establish the Winnipeg Thunder basketball team in 1992 with future mayor Sam Katz.
12.
John Loewen has provided financial assistance to several athletic programs.
13.
John Loewen helped create the Manitoba Entertainment Complex group in 1994, in an effort to purchase controlling shares in the Winnipeg Jets hockey franchise and keep the team in the city.
14.
John Loewen chaired the MEC, and participated in plans to build a new arena for the team.
15.
John Loewen argued that the National Hockey League and commissioner Gary Bettman undermined his efforts, by presenting unreasonable demands shortly before an official deadline.
16.
John Loewen has been a board member and chairman of Economic Development Winnipeg, a council member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Manitoba, a board member and president of the Big Brothers and Sisters Association of Winnipeg and president of both the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and the Linden Woods Community Association.
17.
John Loewen has been involved with the United Way of Winnipeg, serving on the United Way Cabinet from 1994 until 1999 as Chair of the Major Corporate Division and Deputy Chair of Business.
18.
John Loewen is a founding Director of the Business Council of Manitoba.
19.
Until 2012 John Loewen was the President of Telpay, an electronic payments company which was originally started as a research and development project by Comcheq.
20.
John Loewen entered political life in Manitoba's 1999 provincial election, winning election for the newly created south Winnipeg constituency of Fort Whyte.
21.
The New Democratic Party won the election, and John Loewen became a Member of the Legislative Assembly in the Official Opposition.
22.
John Loewen was appointed as his party's critic for Intergovernmental Affairs, and was later promoted to Finance Critic.
23.
John Loewen decided against this when the party establishment united behind Stuart Murray.
24.
John Loewen was a moderate in the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party, and supported the centre-right Progressive Conservative Party of Canada rather than the right-wing Canadian Alliance at the federal level, even though many of his colleagues backed the Alliance.
25.
In 2001, John Loewen was the only member of the provincial PC caucus to attend a Winnipeg fundraiser for federal PC leader Joe Clark.
26.
John Loewen became involved a serious controversy in early 2002, after issuing a media notice that was strongly critical of Manitoba's Crocus investment portfolio.
27.
John Loewen wrote that the company held investments "in a number of Manitoba companies" that were "in financial difficulty", and requested that the government ask the Auditor General to review the valuation of the fund.
28.
John Loewen's statement was met with strong opposition from Crocus, which threatened legal action.
29.
John Loewen was demoted from his position as Finance Critic by Stuart Murray, and was required to make a formal apology to the legislature in April 2002.
30.
Many believe John Loewen's concerns were vindicated by the trust's eventual failure.
31.
John Loewen criticized several parties, including the government, opposition and senior Crocus management, when discussing the firm's failure in a 2007 interview.
32.
John Loewen was re-elected in the 2003 election by a slightly reduced margin.
33.
In making the announcement, John Loewen said he was uncomfortable with the social conservatism of Conservative leader Stephen Harper, and that he "never believed in the policies of the former Alliance and Reform parties" which he described as "dominat[ing] the [Conservative] party".
34.
John Loewen resigned from the provincial legislature on September 26,2005, and subsequently beat Gennarino Conte for the Liberal nomination.
35.
John Loewen lost to Conservative incumbent Steven Fletcher in the 2006 federal election, as the Conservatives gained twenty-five seats to form a minority government.
36.
John Loewen acknowledged that the national trend worked against his candidacy.
37.
John Loewen is a partner in Payworks, an internet based payroll service.
38.
In 2007, John Loewen was acclaimed as the Liberal candidate for Winnipeg South.
39.
John Loewen lost to Conservative incumbent Rod Bruinooge in the 2008 federal election.