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28 CURRENT BIOGRAPHY

[[image - headshot photo of man in glasses with bowtie]]
[[photo credit]] Monte Everett [[/photo credit]]
[[caption]] RALPH OSBORNE CAMPNEY [[/caption]]

Called to the Ontario bar in 1924, he was appointed secretary to the Canadian delegation to the League of Nations, where he served under Dr. Oscar Douglas Skelton. He returned from Geneva to act as political secretary to the Canadian Prime Minister, W.L. Mackenzie King. From 1926 to 1929 he was private secretary to the Honorable James Malcolm, Minister of Trade and Commerce.

Deciding to return to private law practice, Campney became a member of the bar in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1929, and a member of the firm, Campney, Owen, Murphy & Owen.

He interrupted his private practice in 1936 to accept the first chairmanship of the National Harbors Board. A. O. Tate, Canadian journalist, has commented: "Since he had had no active association with port affairs and sea transportation, his appointment puzzled shipping men. But Ralph Campney succeeded in his aim of unifying and coordinating the administration of Canada's salt water ports which had been, up to then, entrusted to local commissions" (Toronto Star Weekly, November 20, 1954). The Liberal Spokesman, in the August 1954 issue, praised his work in setting up the harbor administration "as a model of non-political organization." Campney resigned in 1940, after having successfully completed the reorganization.

Standing for his first political contest in the by-election of 1948, Campney was defeated. The next year, he was successful in his bid to represent Vancouver Center in the Dominion House of Commons. He has been serving as a member of the Canadian Parliament since that time, having been re-elected in 1953.

His first assignment was as chairman of the Parliamentary committee dealing with the unification of the armed services, provided for in the National Defense Act of 1950, which he helped to draft. He was appointed parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Defense, the Honorable Brooke Claxton, in January 1951, serving in that capacity until his selection as solicitor general of Canada in October 1952.

Campney was named associate minister of national defense in February 1953, holding the legal and defense posts together. He resigned the solicitor generalship in January 1954, and succeeded Claxton as Minister of Defense in July of the same year. His appointment was acclaimed by the public and the press, for the new Minister had shown his ability to handle administrative detail as well as astuteness in formulating policy. As the director of the Defense Department, Campney has been responsible for the administration of a two billion dollar budget, acknowledged to be Canada's biggest single business.

Self-assurance and certainty mark Campney's approach to his job. The Toronto Star Weekly (November 20, 1954) has explained: "Campney believes he can get more work done with less physical and mental wear and tear than men of a different temperament-and the Minister's generally even temper is no doubt a reason for his vigorous health and administrative ability. He also has enough steam and stamina to 'hit the hustings' for a grueling political campaign. If he hasn't an evening engagement, he will take home with him a few files to which he can devote a couple of hours of study and contemplation. They usually are knotty problems requiring that sort of attention. Next day, when decisions are needed, they are based on thoughtful consideration rather than snap judgment."

Campney attended the annual review meeting of the NATO Council of Ministers in December 1954. At this conference, Canada discussed participation in security and defense activities. Although the policy decisions at NATO have been made in favor of the further development of thermonuclear weapons, and Great Britain and the United States have disclosed that they are expanding their supply of atomic artillery, Campney and top Canadian military leaders have not completely followed suit. Instead, the government has announced a program to expand the facilities of the Petawawa Military Camp in New Brunswick, Canada.

This policy has aroused some Parliamentary opposition. The Ottawa Letter (December 18, 1954), criticizing these activities, has written: "Surely a government with any faith in the soundness of [the] conclusion that the next war would be fought with atomic weapons would call a summary halt to the construction of such establishments and conserve the funds for intelligent preparations for atomic warfare." However, in June 1955, Canada signed a pact with the United States to exchange "atomic information for mutual defense purposes" (New York Times, June 16, 1955).

This pact was drawn up under the provision of the U.S. Atomic Energy Law that permits the exchange of restricted atomic information for the development of defense plans and the training of personnel in the use of and defense against atomic weapons.