{{Short description|Canadian academic and politician (1929–2011)}} {{Infobox officeholder | office1 = Leader of the Social Credit Party | term_start1 = May 7, 1978 | term_end1 = February 23, 1979 | predecessor1 = Charles-Arthur Gauthier (acting) | successor1 = Charles-Arthur Gauthier (acting) |birth_place=Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |birth_date=January 5, 1929 |death_date={{Death date and age|2011|11|9|1929|1|5}} |death_place=Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |occupation= English professor }} '''Lorne A. Reznowski''' (January 5, 1929 – November 9, 2011) was a Canadian professor of English at the University of Manitoba and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://obitsforlife.com/obituary/424605/REZNOWSKI-DR-DEACON-LORNE-A.php |title=Dr. Deacon Lorne A. Reznowski |publisher=ObitsforLife.com |access-date=2012-01-17}}</ref><ref name="man">{{Cite web|url=https://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/reznowski_la.shtml|title=Memorable Manitobans: Lorne Anthony Reznowski (1929-2011)}}</ref>
==Background== He was the son of Ukrainian-Canadians Lorne William Reznowski and Anna Angela Brokowska. Reznowski received a BA degree from Loyola College in Montreal in 1949 and then worked as a longshoreman on the Pacific coast. He graduated with a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. in 1957.<ref name="man"/>
He then studied at the University of Ottawa where he earned MA and PhD degrees in English Literature.<ref name="man"/>
He returned to Winnipeg in 1966 to teach at St. Paul’s College at the University of Manitoba and taught there until his retirement in 1993.<ref name="man"/>
He was active in the Social Credit Party since the age of 12 when he made radio broadcasts for the party.<ref name="man"/>
A one-time national secretary of the Social Credit Party, Reznowski once worked for former Socred leader Robert N. Thompson<ref name=new/> and was a "doctrinal purist"<ref name=new>"Socreds sow new ideas.... ", ''Globe and Mail'', March 13, 1978</ref> when it came to social credit monetary theory. He was the party's candidate in Provencher for the 1968 Canadian federal election, receiving 8.2% of the popular vote.<ref>[http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Sites/LOP/HFER/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=Cresdetail&Election=1533 History of Federal Ridings since 1867: Provencher, 1968 election], Parliament of Canada website</ref>
Reznowski ran for the party leadership at its 1978 convention and was elected leader. He resigned four months after losing an October 16, 1978 by-election in Saint Boniface, Manitoba, in which he finished in fourth place with only 1,204 votes out of 43,572 valid votes (2.76%).<ref name=Trueman>{{cite news | last =Trueman | first =Mary | title =Reznowski resigns, says Social Credit needs Quebec chief | date =February 23, 1979 }}</ref><ref>[http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Sites/LOP/HFER/hfer.asp?Language=E&Search=Cresdetail&Election=1887 History of Federal Ridings since 1867: St. Boniface, October 16, 1978 by-election], Parliament of Canada website</ref>
Reznowski cited the need for him to finish his doctoral thesis in medieval literature in order to retain his teaching position for his resignation. However, he also said that the party wanted a francophone leader and that it would have a better chance of retaining its nine seats in the House of Commons of Canada, all of which were in Quebec, with a leader from that province. It had been hoped that Reznowski's leadership would help revive the party in its former base of Western Canada.<ref name=Trueman />
==Policies== Reznowski was described as a "doctrinal purist" who advocated the original social credit monetary theory of C.H. Douglas.<ref name =Trueman/> He promised that a Social Credit government would cut retail sales tax by 25 per cent and argued for moral responsibility in society with the family as its basic union. He also expressed his opposition to homosexuality, abortion, birth control and working mothers and his support for capital punishment.<ref name=Trueman2>{{cite news | last =Trueman | first =Mary | title =Socreds pin party's hopes on new leader, old formula | date =May 8, 1978 }}</ref> Reznowki also argued that Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was soft on communism and that there was an imminent threat of a takeover of Canada by the Soviet Union.<ref name=Trueman2/> As national party leader Reznowski criticized Bill Bennett, leader of the British Columbia Social Credit Party and Premier of British Columbia for rejecting social credit doctrine quipping that Ogopogo would be a better name for Bennett's party.<ref>{{cite news |author=Canadian Press | title =A monstrous proposal | date =May 18, 1978 }}</ref>
== Electoral history == {{1968 Canadian federal election/Provencher}} {{CANelec/top|CA|16 October 1978|by=yes|percent=yes|change=yes}} {{CANelec/note|On Mr. Guay's resignation, 23 March 1978}} {{CANelec|CA|PC|Jack Hare|18,552|42.6|+6.4}} {{CANelec|CA|Liberal|Robert Bockstael|13,804|31.7|-10.9}} {{CANelec|CA|NDP|Grant Wichenko|9,570|22.0|+1.8}} {{CANelec|CA|Social Credit|Lorne Reznowski|1,204|2.8|+1.7}} {{CANelec|CA|Independent|Donald Bryan Oliver|281|0.6| }} {{CANelec|CA|Independent|William Hawryluk|161|0.4| }} {{Canadian election result/total|Total valid votes|43,572 |100.0}} {{end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Social Credit Party of Canada}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reznowski, Lorne}} Category:Social Credit Party of Canada leaders Category:Academic staff of the University of Manitoba Category:1929 births Category:2011 deaths Category:Canadian anti-communists Category:Canadian anti-abortion activists Category:Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Category:Politicians from Winnipeg Category:Candidates in the 1968 Canadian federal election Category:Manitoba candidates for Member of Parliament Category:Social Credit Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons