John D. Wallace | |
---|---|
Senator for New Brunswick | |
In office 2 January 2009 – 1 February 2017 | |
Nominated by | Stephen Harper |
Appointed by | Michaëlle Jean |
Personal details | |
Born | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | 26 March 1949
Political party | Independent Senators Group |
Other political affiliations | Conservative (until 2015) |
Profession | corporate lawyer |
John D. Wallace (born 26 March 1949) is a lawyer and retired Canadian Senator.[1]
Early life and career
[edit]Wallace was born in Toronto, Ontario and raised and educated in New Brunswick.[citation needed]
He received his Bachelor of Business Administration (1971) and Bachelor of Laws (1973) degrees from the University of New Brunswick.[2]
Wallace practiced law in Saint John, New Brunswick where he was a partner in the law firms of Palmer, O’Connell, Leger, Turnbull and Turnbull and Stewart McKelvey before leaving private practice to serve as Corporate Counsel for Irving Oil Limited for 17 years.[2]
Senate
[edit]On 22 December 2008, it was announced that he would be appointed on the advice of Stephen Harper to the Senate.[3] He assumed office on 2 January 2009.
In 2014, The Hill Times reported that Wallace was part of a bipartisan group of Liberal and Conservative Senators that secretly met to discuss how to reform the Senate from within.[1]
On 18 November 2015, Wallace announced that he was leaving the Conservative caucus because of irreconcilable differences between himself and party leadership over the role of partisanship in the Senate, citing the 2014 Supreme Court Reference that declared that the Fathers of Confederation wanted the Senate to be "thoroughly independent."[1]
Wallace announced on 13 December 2016, that he was retiring from the Senate effective 1 February 2017, just over seven years prior to reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75, as he promised when he was appointed that he would only serve eight years in the Upper House. None of the other 17 senators appointed with Wallace in January 2009 who made the same pledge, have announced plans to step down.[4][5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Senator John Wallace quits Conservative caucus - New Brunswick senator will sit as an Independent, citing 'irreconcilable' differences for leaving Tory caucus". CBC News. 18 November 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
- ^ a b "Senator John Wallace". Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
- ^ "Senator John D. Wallace".
- ^ "Senator John Wallace to resign to fulfil 8-year pledge — but others won't follow suit | CBC News".
- ^ John D. Wallace. "Wallace Letter of Resignation" (PDF). Retrieved 1 February 2017. [permanent dead link]