The late John Turner is being fondly remembered today by local Liberals as a man with commitment and sincerity.

Turner visited the Yukon on a several occasions, once during the 1984 federal election campaign during his short-lived time as prime minister of Canada.

“He was such a tremendous people person,” longtime Liberal Shayne Fairman told the Star in an interview this morning. “He was very committed to political life because he felt it was so important.”

Turner died Friday at the age of 91. He served as prime minister from June 1984 to September after winning the Liberal leadership campaign to replace retiring prime minister Pierre Trudeau.

His short tenure as prime minister ended with his loss to former prime minister Brian Mulroney in the Sept. 4, 1984 federal election.

The Conservatives won 211 seats, compared to just 40 for the Liberals.

Turner served in Trudeau’s cabinet both as the Finance minister and Justice minister before resigning from Parliament in 1975.

“He was very personal, very warm, and he left a good impression with anybody he met.”

Fairman recalled a Liberal rally at Rotary Peace Park during the 1984 campaign when former Yukon Supreme Court justice Ron Veale was the party’s candidate (Veale lost to incumbent Tory Erik Nielsen).

Hundreds of people attended the salmon bake at the park to hear Turner speak, he recalled.

That rally at the park that Fairman helped organize was one of the largest political events he’s been a part of, he said.

Fairman was at the Liberal leadership convention when Turner was chosen to replace Trudeau and was elevated to prime minister with his victory.

Turner would go on to serve as the official Opposition leader until 1990.

Fairman remembers the famous debate in the 1988 federal election between Turner and Mulroney over Mulroney’s desire for a free trade agreement with the U.S.

Turner felt that when you begin to surrender the lever of economic power, you begin to give up your political autonomy, he said.

Jim McLachan, once the Liberal MLA for Faro, also has fond memories of Turner.

“He was a gentleman in every sense of the word,” McLachlan said this morning. “He was well-respected and well thought of by Canadians.”

He said Turner’s loss in the 1984 campaign was not because Turner was who he was, but rather he was caught in the winds of political change as the Liberals had dominated federal politics from 1968 to 1984, with Trudeau at the helm until he stepped down.

The former MLA noted that Turner once held the Canadian record for the 100-yard dash and made the Canadian Olympic team, but was unable to participate in the 1948 Olympics in London because of a knee injury.

There was also talk in the late 1950s of a relationship between Turner and Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth’s sister, though it didn’t go anywhere.

Turner, a lawyer by profession, was first elected to the House of Commons via a Montreal seat in 1962.

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