George Clyde Nowlan PC (14 August 1898 – 31 May 1965) was a Canadian Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister. A member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, he served as Minister of Finance in the government of John Diefenbaker, and was also responsible for the CBC.

George Nowlan
Minister of Finance
In office
9 August 1962 – 21 April 1963
Prime MinisterJohn Diefenbaker
Preceded byDonald Fleming
Succeeded byWalter L. Gordon
Minister of National Revenue
In office
21 June 1957 – 8 August 1962
Prime MinisterJohn Diefenbaker
Preceded byJames Joseph McCann
Succeeded byHugh John Flemming
Member of Parliament
for Digby—Annapolis—Kings
Annapolis—Kings (1950-1953)
In office
19 June 1950 – 8 November 1965
Preceded byAngus Elderkin
Succeeded byPat Nowlan
In office
13 December 1948 – 27 June 1949
Preceded byJames Lorimer Ilsley
Succeeded byRiding dissolved
Member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly
for Kings
In office
25 June 1925 – 22 August 1933
Preceded byJames Sealy, John Alexander McDonald
Succeeded byJohn Alexander McDonald
Personal details
Born(1898-08-14)14 August 1898
Havelock, Nova Scotia, Canada
Died31 May 1965(1965-05-31) (aged 66)
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Political partyProgressive Conservative
Spouse
Miriam Chisholm
(m. 1923)
Children4, including Pat
Occupation

Early life and education

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Nowlan was a soldier in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War. After the war ended, he returned to the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia and attended Acadia University to study for a Bachelor of Arts, graduating in 1920. He then studied law at Dalhousie University.

Political career

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Nowlan was an MLA in the Nova Scotia Legislature in the 1920s, and was always known for his reputation as a hard worker and a Party Man. He served a term as the Progressive Conservative Party's president. While serving as Minister of National Revenue in 1962, he forbid Customs to censor or ban entrance to any publication unless a Canadian court had already ruled it to be "obscene", rather than using their own discretion. Five years later, this was overturned.[1]

There is a George Clyde Nowlan fonds at Library and Archives Canada.[2]

Personal life

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His son Pat Nowlan later became a Progressive Conservative (and later Independent Progressive Conservative) MP in Nowlan's riding of Kings County.

References

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  1. ^ Petersen, Klaus & Allan C. Hutchinson. "Interpreting Censorship in Canada", University of Toronto Press, 1999.
  2. ^ "George Clyde Nowlan fonds, Library and Archives Canada".