Lloyd Axworthy

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Lloyd Norman Axworthy, PC, OC, OM, Ph.D, MA (born December 21, 1939, in North Battleford, Saskatchewan) is a Canadian politician. He is best known for having served as Minister of Foreign Affairs under Jean Chrétien. Axworthy is currently President of the University of Winnipeg.

Axworthy was born in Saskatchewan to a family with strong United Church roots. He received his Ph.D from Princeton University before returning to Canada to teach at the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg.

Axworthy became involved in politics during the 1950s, becoming a member of the Liberal Party after attending a speech by Lester B. Pearson. He briefly aligned himself with the New Democratic Party (NDP) in the 1960s when Pearson, as federal opposition leader, called for American Bomarc nuclear warheads to be allowed on Canadian soil. He soon returned to the Liberal fold, however, and worked as an executive assistant for John Turner. Axworthy supported Turner's bid to become party leader at the 1968 leadership convention.

Axworthy ran for the party in Winnipeg North Centre in the 1968 election, and finished a surprisingly strong second against veteran NDP Member of Parliament (MP) Stanley Knowles.

Axworthy's first political success came at the provincial level. He first ran for the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in the 1966 election, placing second to Progressive Conservative Douglas Stanes in St. James. In the 1973 election, he was elected as a Manitoba Liberal in Fort Rouge, a riding that bordered on the one held by party leader Izzy Asper. He was re-elected in the 1977 election, and was the only Liberal in the legislature from 1977 to 1979.

He resigned on April 6 of the latter year to run for the federal House of Commons, and in the 1979 election narrowly defeated former provincial PC leader Sidney Spivak in Winnipeg—Fort Garry.

He was re-elected in the election of 1980, and became a cabinet minister in the government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. He served first as Minister of Employment and Immigration, and then as Minister of Transport.

In the Liberal defeat in the 1984 election, Axworthy was one of only two Liberals west of Ontario to be elected (the other being then Liberal leader John Turner). Axworthy played an important role in opposition, forcefully attacking the government of Brian Mulroney. He was an especially vocal critic of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement.

When the Liberals returned to power in 1993 under the leadership of Jean Chrétien, Axworthy became one of the most important Cabinet ministers. After the election, he was given responsibility for the vast new Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), and launched a major overhaul of employment insurance.

Axworthy's true interest was in international relations, and in a 1996 cabinet shuffle, he became Minister of Foreign Affairs. Axworthy excelled in this position, becoming a strong advocate of Canada's tradition of multilateralism. His greatest success was the Ottawa Treaty, an international treaty to ban anti-personnel land mines. He also campaigned against the use of child soldiers and the international trade in light weapons.

In 1997, Axworthy was nominated by United States Senator Patrick Leahy to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on banning land mines.[1]. Many political commentators in Canada believed he was a strong contender for the honour. He did not win, but was thanked by the recipients, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, as having been instrumental in their effort.[2]

In September, 2000, Axworthy retired from public life and returned to academia, joining the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia. He is also a frequent public speaker on matters relating to international relations. He has published a number of books on this subject, notably Navigating A New World, a book on the uses of "soft power". He has served as a United Nations envoy tasked with resolving the Eritrean-Ethiopian War (see also Algiers Agreement).

In 2003, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

In May of 2004, he was appointed to his current job as president of the University of Winnipeg.

Axworthy is Chair of the Advisory Committee for the Americas Division of Human Rights Watch. He also serves on the advisory council of USC Center on Public Diplomacy and is an endorser of the Genocide Intervention Network and International Student Exchange, Ontario.

His brother, Tom Axworthy, was a longtime civil servant, eventually becoming principal secretary to Pierre Trudeau from 1981 until 1984.

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