OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's appointment of Jack Horner as chairman of the board of Canadian National Railways was the ultimate in political porkbarrelling, opposition MPs said Friday.
Horner, 55, a former Alberta Conservative MP who defected to the Liberal Party in 1977 and subsequenty named trade minister, was appointed to chair CN's board of directors Thursday. His appointment becomes effective June 1.
New Democratic Party MP Lorne Nystrom called the appointment 'the ultimate in political patronage and makes Canadians cynical about all of us as politicians.'
'Here's a guy who was a Tory for many, many years and he switched to the Liberal Party and named a cabinet minister and was soundly defeated by his own constituents and now gets the ultimate reward.'
Nystrom said he estimated Horner's salary to be in the $200,000-a-year range. Trudeau's office refused to reveal the salary.
Nystrom referred to the defeated politician as 'Jumping Jack Horner.'
However, Transport Minister Jean-Luc Pepin defended the appointment saying Horner 'fit the bill' as a western Canadian and as a former chairman of the Commons transport committee. Horner has been a member of CN's board of directors since 1980.
'Criticism is bound to come up each time a politician is appointed to head a Crown corporation,' Pepin told reporters outside the House. 'Politicians live public lives, whatever appointments, whatever happens to them, is bound to be seen as patronage.'
'Naming a politician as chairman of a Crown corporation is nothing new. In various western provinces, cabinet ministers actually sit as chairmen of Crown corporations.'
Tory MPs were cynical about the appointment, reading hastily prepared poems into the daily Commons record.
Tory MP Geoff Scott's poem read:
'The cowboy from Crowfoot called Jack,
Went through the House double-track,
Trudeau's his director, but CN directors,
Are saddled with Jack, and the flack.'
Horner represented the Crowfoot, Alta., riding as a Conservative until he crossed the floor to join the Liberals in April 1977 and appointed minister without portfolio. He was named minister of industry, trade and commerce by Trudeau in September that year.
During the 1979 general election, running as Liberal, he was soundly defeated by Conservative MP Arnold Malone.
