Lawrence O'Neil

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Lawrence I. O'Neil (born 14 November 1954) is a Justice of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court. He was a lawyer by profession, and between 1984 and 1988, was a Progressive Conservative party member of the Canadian House of Commons.

He was elected at Cape Breton Highlands—Canso electoral district in 1984 federal election, thus he served in the 33rd Canadian Parliament. O'Neil was defeated in 1988 federal election by Francis LeBlanc of the Liberal party.

Lawrence I. O'Neil was appointed to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia on September 19th, 2007 by Justice Minister Honourable Robert Nicholson. The swearing in ceremony took place on October 23rd, 2007 in St. Ninian's Place on the Campus of St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish Nova Scotia.

The appointment proved to be somewhat controversial due to past statements while an MP regarding abortion.^[1] On July 27, 1988, in the House of Commons he is reported to having stated that "[i]t appears that there is widespread acceptance of the notion that a mother should have the right to control her body. There is no such right." ^[2]

Justice O'Neil was a staff lawyer with Nova Scotia Legal Aid in Antigonish at the time of his appointment. He has also practiced with Pickup & MacDowell and as a sole practitioner before going to Legal Aid.

Justice O'Neil was admitted to the Nova Scotia Bar in 1979 after earning a Bachelor of Laws degree from Dalhousie University. He had moved on to the Dal Law School in 1976 from St. Francis Xavier University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree.