By Canadian Press

‘Dedication to serving Canadians’: PM pays tribute to former MP John Godfrey

Dec 21, 2023 | 3:04 PM

OTTAWA — The late John Godfrey, a former university president, newspaper editor and Liberal MP, made meaningful and lasting contributions to public life, recalled Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“His dedication to serving Canadians will continue to be an inspiration to me and many others,” Trudeau said in a statement Wednesday, following Godfrey’s death.

The Toronto-born Godfrey founded the School of Journalism at the University of King’s College in Halifax, was editor of the Financial Post and served as an MP from 1993 to 2008.

“The son of a senator, Mr. Godfrey understood the importance of public service and spent much of his life advocating for members of his community and for all Canadians,” Trudeau said in his statement.

Godfrey studied at the University of Toronto and later the University of Oxford, where he earned a master’s degree and a doctorate of philosophy

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By that time, he was teaching history at Dalhousie University, noted King’s College vice-chancellor William Lahey in his own tribute message. “He gained popularity for his unconventional approach to teaching History 100 to non-history majors, which incorporated lectures, videos, rap sessions and happenings,” Lahey said.

In 1977, Godfrey was named president of King’s College, the youngest ever at age 34. While there he founded the School of Journalism. Trudeau noted in his statement that at King’s, Godfrey “helped advance important causes, including addressing the food crisis in Ethiopia — one of the worst humanitarian events of the 20th century.”

Godfrey took the editorial reins of the Financial Post and was vice-president of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research before jumping into politics in 1993. 

He was elected MP for the Toronto riding of Don Valley West, and served as a parliamentary secretary and minister of state for infrastructure and communities. Trudeau said Godfrey “strengthened relationships with municipalities and his leadership helped spur infrastructure investments from coast to coast to coast,” including the signing of gas tax agreements across Canada.  

“Mr. Godfrey believed in building better communities and providing newcomers to Canada with full opportunities, and he was committed to our collective responsibility to protect the environment and address climate change,” Trudeau said.

His biography for the Order of Canada, to which he was named in 2018, notes Godfrey authored the Federal Sustainable Development Act, “which secured a federal strategy on the sustainability of Canada’s future.”

After leaving politics in 2008, Godfrey was headmaster of the Toronto French School and later the Ontario government’s special adviser for climate change and chair of the government’s climate action group.

Bob Rae, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, said in a post Thursday on X, formerly known as Twitter: “A public spirited and exuberant man has left us the better for his encouragement and good cheer in adversity.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 21, 2023.

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press