Dennis Canavan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dennis Canavan (born 8 August 1942, Cowdenbeath) is a Scottish politician, and was an Independent Member of the Scottish Parliament for Falkirk West.

He was educated at St. Bride's and St. Columba's Schools, Cowdenbeath, and at the University of Edinburgh. He worked as a schoolteacher from 1968 until 1974 and was Assistant Head of Holyrood High School,Edinburgh,at the time of his first election to Parliament.

He was leader of the Labour Group on Stirling District Council in 1974 and became a Labour member of the Westminster Parliament for West Stirlingshire in that year's October general election and for Falkirk West from 1983 to 2000. He was Chair of the Scottish Parliamentary Labour Group, 1980 - 1981. A noted left-winger, he voted with the Campaign Group of Labour MPs on most issues, although he voted consistently against abortion on demand.In 1975, he tried introducing a bill to abolish corporal punishment in schools and his efforts formed part of the case presented to the European Commission on Human Rights which led eventually to abolition.He voted against the Blair Government's proposals to cut benefits for children of lone parents, abolish student grants and introduce tuition fees.

A keen sports enthusiast,he was founder and Convener of the Scottish Sports Group at Westminster and the Cross-Party Sports Group in the Scottish Parliament.He has completed a marathon in less than 3 hours and the Ben Nevis Race in just over 2 hours.He won a gold medal,playing for Scotland in the British Universities Football Championships in 1968.In his book,"The Final Whistle?", Harry Reid claims that he took part in the 1977 Wembley pitch invasion after Scotland beat England and ripped up a patch of the turf.Home Internationals#1977: Wembley pitch invasion football Wembley ^[1] In 2003,in the Scottish Parliament,he strongly criticised the Scottish football authorities when Falkirk Football Club was refused promotion to the Scottish Premier League, despite having won the First Division Championship.

He takes an active interest in international affairs and served as a member of the House of Commons Select Committees on Foreign Affairs and International Development.He is still a member of CND and Amnesty International and is interested in conflict resolution. He chaired the Northern Ireland Committee of the Parliamentary Labour Party from 1989 to 1997 and led several Parliamentary delegations to Ireland during the troubles. He served on the British-Irish Inter-parliamentary Body from 1992 to 2000. As a member of the European and External Relations Committee of the Scottish Parliament, he was author of a report on the potential for co-operation between Scotland and Ireland.He has frequently spoken out against sectarianism and racism.

Throughout his entire political life,Canavan played a leading part in the campaign for a Scottish Parliament. When Labour was in opposition,he led a nationwide consultation about devolution ,on behalf of the Scottish Group of Labour MPs, leading to the publication of a bill to establish a Scottish Parliament with revenue-raising powers. However,in 1999, when the first elections to the Scottish Parliament were held,the New Labour leadership rejected him as an official Labour candidate,despite the fact that he had the support of 97% of local party members.He therefore stood as an Independent and won. He was consequently expelled from the party. He had the highest majority of any MSP in the 1999 election. He resigned his Westminster seat in 2000; the resulting by-election was won by Eric Joyce. Canavan retained his Holyrood seat in 2003, again with the biggest majority in Scotland.

In the Scottish Parliament, he was a member of the European and External Relations Committee and Convener of the All-Party Sports Group from 1999.^[2][3]

Canavan enjoys hill-walking and,in the Scottish Parliament,he championed the people's right of access to the countryside,successfully introducing amendments to the Land Reform(Scotland)Act2003 in order to extend the right of access to country estates,including land belonging to the Queen.He is now President of Ramblers Scotland.

He is a strong supporter of the idea of a national holiday to celebrate St Andrew's Day, and his bill to achieve this was eventually passed as the St. Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007.

He stood down at the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections.^[4] After this announcement he received an ovation at Holyrood from other MSPs and was praised by the First Minister Jack McConnell as "an outstanding parliamentarian over a long, long period of time".^[5]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Dennis Canavan MSP Biography at the Scottish Parliament website
• Dennis Canavan MSP Biography at personal website
• The colourful MSP calls it a day BBC profile

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by William Baxter	Member of Parliament for West Stirlingshire Oct. 1974–1983	Succeeded by (constituency abolished)
Preceded by (new constituency)	Member of Parliament for Falkirk West 1983–2000	Succeeded by Eric Joyce
Scottish Parliament
Preceded by Constituency Created	Member of the Scottish Parliament for Falkirk West 1999–2007	Succeeded by Michael Matheson