Birth Name: John Napier Wyndham Turner
Place of Birth: Richmond, England
Date of Birth: June 7, 1929
Ethnicity: English, Irish, Scottish
John Turner is a Canadian lawyer and politician. A member of the Liberal Party, he served as the 17th Prime Minister of Canada, from June 30, 1984, to September 17, 1984. He was also Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian Parliament, from 1984 to 1990.
Prime Minister Turner’s mother, Phyllis Ross (born Phyllis Marie Gregory), was an economist, civil servant, and the first woman Chancellor of the University of British Columbia and in the Commonwealth of Nations. His father, Leonard Hugh Turner, was a journalist. His stepfather, Frank Mackenzie Ross, was Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.
Prime Minister Turner’s father was English. His mother was Canadian, and was born in Rossland, British Columbia, of English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. His father died in 1932, and he then moved to Canada with his mother. Prime Minister Turner is Catholic.
Prime Minister Turner’s maternal grandparents were James William Gregory (the son of William Gregory) and Mary Margaret Macdonald. James was born in Nova Scotia, to an English father and an Irish mother.