Jack Davis (Canadian politician)

For other people with the same name, see Jack Davis (disambiguation) and John Davis (disambiguation).

The Honourable
Jack Davis
PC
Official 1973 portrait
Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly
for North Vancouver-Seymour
In office
December 11, 1975 – March 27, 1991
Preceded byColin Gabelmann
Succeeded byDaniel Jarvis
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Capilano
Coast—Capilano (1962-1968)
In office
September 27, 1962 – May 9, 1974
Preceded byWilliam H. Payne
Succeeded byRon Huntington
Personal details
Born(1916-07-31)July 31, 1916
Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada
DiedMarch 27, 1991(1991-03-27) (aged 74)
West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada[1]
PartyLiberal (federal)
Social Credit (provincial)
Alma materUniversity of British Columbia (BASc)
McGill University (PhD)
Oxford University (BA, MA)
ProfessionEngineer
Military service
Allegiance Canada
Branch/service Royal Canadian Air Force

John Davis, PC (July 31, 1916 – March 27, 1991) was a Canadian engineer, economist and politician from British Columbia. He served as member of Parliament as part of the Liberal Party of Canada, representing Coast—Capilano from 1962 to 1968, and Capilano from 1968 to 1974. He subsequently represented North Vancouver-Seymour in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1975 to 1991 as a member of the Social Credit Party. He was a federal and provincial cabinet minister under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and premiers Bill Bennett and Bill Vander Zalm.

Early life and career

Born in Kamloops General Hospital, Davis grew up in Tranquille Valley on a 160-acre (0.65 km2) homestead where he attended school in a one-room log cabin. The Davis family moved into Kamloops so that Jack could attend grade 8 at Kamloops High School; he was elected student council president, and graduated in 1935.[2] He won provincial scholarships in junior and senior matriculation, the latter with the highest marks in British Columbia. He attended the University of British Columbia (UBC), where he was president of the Men's Undergraduate Society.[2][3] He also played for the UBC Thunderbird basketball team, which won the Canadian Men's Senior Championship in 1937.[2][4] He graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in chemical engineering in 1939,[5] and was chosen Rhodes Scholar from British Columbia.[3]

His attendance at St John's College, Oxford University, was interrupted by the Second World War. He was on the research team at McGill University developing a new process for manufacturing RDX, and gained his PhD in Science in 1942.[4] Towards the end of the war, he served with the Royal Canadian Air Force as a flight engineer.[2][6] He worked at Shawinigan Chemicals and A. V. Roe Canada, then studied economics and politics at Oxford, graduating with bachelor's and master's degrees.[6] He subsequently worked at the federal Department of Trade and Commerce as director of the Economics Branch, and served as senior economist for the Royal Commission on Canada's Economic Prospects, then returned to British Columbia in 1957 and joined the BC Electric Company as director of research and planning.[6]

He and his wife Margaret had two sons and a daughter;[1] the family lived in West Vancouver.[6]

Politics

Federal

Davis was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1962 federal election to represent Coast—Capilano,[7] a riding which stretched from Deep Cove in the District of North Vancouver to Powell River and Pemberton. A member of the then-minority Liberal Party of Canada, he was re-elected the following year in the train of the national Liberal victory, and was appointed as the Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson.[7] Following his re-election in 1965, he was named Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Mines and Technical Surveys (later re-titled to Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources).[7]

He was re-elected in the 1968 federal election for the new riding of Capilano, and was named Minister without Portfolio in the government of Pierre Trudeau that April, before becoming Minister of Fisheries that July; his portfolio was modified to Minister of Fisheries and Forestry in April 1969.[7] He became the first Minister of the Environment in Canada and the English-speaking world in June 1971,[2][8][9] and kept the post after winning re-election in 1972.[7]

Provincial

Following his loss in the 1974 federal election,[10] he contested the 1975 British Columbia general election as a Social Credit Party candidate, and defeated the incumbent New Democratic Party candidate Colin Gabelmann to become the member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for North Vancouver-Seymour.[11]: 325  He was named to Premier Bill Bennett's cabinet that December as Minister of Transport and Communications; his role was subsequently amended to Minister of Energy, Transport and Communications in October 1976.[12]

Davis came under investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1978 over his practice of converting government-paid first class airline tickets to economy class and keeping the difference in airfare.[8][13] He resigned from cabinet that April at Bennett's demand,[12] and was convicted of defrauding the crown that September; he received a $1,000 fine and was placed on probation for two months.[14][15] He won re-election in 1979 and 1983,[11]: 335, 343  and chaired the rapid transit committee leading up to the construction of Vancouver's first SkyTrain line.[2][16]

He supported Bill Vander Zalm in the 1986 Social Credit leadership race;[14] after Vander Zalm took over as premier that August, Davis re-entered the provincial cabinet as Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources.[17] He was re-elected MLA in that October's provincial election,[11]: 353  and kept the same role in the Vander Zalm ministry until dying in office of cancer in March 1991.[1][15]

Legacy

There are two scholarships to UBC awarded in memory of Davis. The Jack Davis Scholarship in Energy Studies is a $2,700 scholarship that has been endowed by Westcoast Energy Inc. in memory of the Honourable Jack Davis. The award is made to a graduate student in energy studies at the University of British Columbia. The second Jack Davis scholarship is awarded annually to an outstanding all-round North Shore secondary school graduate to assist in his or her entering the University of British Columbia.[2]

A provincial government office building located at 1810 Blanshard Street in Victoria was named the Jack Davis Building. An energy audit prepared for the Alternative Energy Policy Branch of the Ministry of Energy and Mines in 2005 found that the building was currently operating at a high level of energy efficiency.[18] The initial design of the building, which won the building acclaim upon completion in 1992, is still reaping the benefits of energy efficient construction via low energy expenditures.

References

  1. ^ a b c "Dedication noted in life of Davis". Vancouver Sun. March 30, 1991. p. B10. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Biography of Jack Davis". www.jackdavisscholarship.ca. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Jack Davis Named Rhodes Scholar". Vancouver Sun. May 10, 1939. p. 16. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  4. ^ a b "Class Acts" (PDF). UBC Alumni Chronicle, Volume 45, Number 2, Fall 1991. University of British Columbia Alumni Association. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  5. ^ "Twenty-fourth Congregation for the Conferring of Degrees" (PDF). University of British Columbia. May 11, 1939. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d "Hon. Jack Davis New Fisheries Minister" (PDF). Fisheries of Canada, Vol.21 No.1. Department of Fisheries of Canada. 1968. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Profile - Davis, John (Jack)". Library of Parliament of Canada. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  8. ^ a b Plecas, Bob (2006). Bill Bennett: A Mandarin's View. p. 126. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  9. ^ "Environment Canada: The Early Years" (PDF). Environment Update, Volume 9, Number 1, Summer 1989. Environment Canada. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  10. ^ "Laing sees 3 B.C. ministers by '75". Vancouver Sun. August 9, 1974. p. 18. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  11. ^ a b c "Electoral History of British Columbia, 1871-1986" (PDF). Elections BC. pp. 325, 335, 343, 353. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  12. ^ a b Bennett, Judith Antonik; Verspoor, Frederike (1989). "British Columbia Executive Council Appointments: 1871-1986" (PDF). British Columbia Legislative Library. pp. 68, 72. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  13. ^ Odam, Jes (August 17, 1978). "Court told: $200 refunds sent directly to Jack Davis". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  14. ^ a b Farquharson, Duart (August 15, 1986). "Vander Zalm rewards backers with cabinet posts". The Gazette. Montreal. Southam News. Retrieved December 9, 2025.
  15. ^ a b "New faces added to leaner B.C. cabinet". Star-Phoenix. Saskatoon. Canadian Press. November 7, 1986. p. 48. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  16. ^ "Tunnel still up in the air". Vancouver Sun. January 16, 1982. p. A16. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  17. ^ "Vander Zalm Cabinet: 33rd-34th Parliament 1986–1991" (PDF). Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
  18. ^ Good, Joel (2005). "British Columbia Zero-Net Energy Building Study: Jack Davis Building Final Report" (PDF). Retrieved November 14, 2025.
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