22 Facts About Sinclair Stevens

Sinclair McKnight Stevens was a Canadian lawyer, businessman and cabinet minister in the government of Joe Clark.

Sinclair Stevens was born in Esquesing Township, the third child of Northern Irish immigrants Robert Murray Stevens and Anna Bailey McKnight.

Sinclair Stevens attended Weston Collegiate Institute and later, the University of Western Ontario, class of 1950.

Sinclair Stevens was active in the student newspaper and the model Parliament.

Sinclair Stevens entered Osgoode Hall Law School, where he met his fellow student and future wife Noreen Mary Terese Charlebois.

From 1963 to 1967 Sinclair Stevens, was embroiled in an attempt to form the first new Canadian chartered bank in 50 years, Westbank.

Sinclair Stevens won again, and was re-elected in 1980, and 1984.

Sinclair Stevens ran as a candidate in the 1976 Progressive Conservative leadership convention.

Sinclair Stevens finished seventh on the first ballot and withdrew in favour of the eventual winner Joe Clark.

That was seen as a surprising move, since Sinclair Stevens was considered right-wing, and Clark was a moderate on the party's left wing.

Sinclair Stevens had been the top official campaign spender, but Mulroney, who did not provide figures, is widely thought to have exceeded that amount.

Sinclair Stevens served as President of the Treasury Board in the short-lived Clark government.

Sinclair Stevens turned against Clark, and was an early supporter of Mulroney's leadership bid which culminated in victory at the 1983 Progressive Conservative leadership convention.

Sinclair Stevens was forced to resign from Cabinet in 1986 after allegations of conflict of interest.

In December 1987, a special commission of inquiry, headed by Justice William Dickens Parker, ruled Sinclair Stevens had violated conflict-of-interest allegations on fourteen counts.

Sinclair Stevens won the PC nomination in his original riding but Prime Minister Mulroney refused to sign his nomination papers, forcing the riding association to nominate another candidate.

In voiding the definition of conflict of interest, the judge found that Sinclair Stevens's behaviour did not violate the guidelines that governed him since no valid guidelines had existed.

Sinclair Stevens returned to prominence as a bitter opponent of the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives into the Conservative Party of Canada.

Sinclair Stevens launched an unsuccessful lawsuit to try to block the merger.

Sinclair Stevens later became a prominent member of the Progressive Canadian Party, which had been formed by Progressive Conservative members disaffected by the merger.

In 2007, after Tracy Parsons's resignation as leader of the "new" PC Party, Sinclair Stevens succeeded Parsons as interim leader.

Sinclair Stevens remained in that position until his death, nine years later.