Jake Hoeppner
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Jake Hoeppner MP |
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| Member of the Canadian Parliament for Portage—Lisgar |
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In office 1993–2000 |
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| Preceded by | first member |
| Succeeded by | Brian Pallister |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 1, 1936 Morden, Manitoba |
| Died | October 22, 2015 (age 79) Morden, Manitoba |
| Political party | Reform → Independent |
Jake E. Hoeppner (February 1, 1936 – October 22, 2015) is a former Canadian politician. He served in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 2000, initially with the Reform Party and later as an independent Member of Parliament (MP).
Hoeppner was born on a Russian Mennonite family in Morden, Manitoba, did not finish high school, and worked a farmer for thirty-five years. Between 1968 and 1984, he served on the Snowflake School Board, and Pembina Valley School Board and the MCI Collegiate Board (Gretna). He was also a member of the Provisional Board of Keystone Agricultural Producers, District 2 and Southern Co-op Feeders Ltd. He first became a public figure in 1971, when he opposed the provincial government's crop-insurance scheme and received twice what he was initially promised in a hailstone-damage claim.
He was first elected to the House of Commons in the 1993 federal election, defeating Liberal candidate Grant Johnson by 4,655 votes in Lisgar—Marquette. Hoeppner was the only Reform MP to be elected from a Manitoba riding in this election, and was one of only two party MPs elected east of Saskatchewan.
Hoeppner launched a lawsuit against the Canadian Wheat Board in 1995, alleging that the board had charged insufficient buy-back prices to grain companies and had not properly distributed the money it received. The case was thrown out of court in 1998, and Hoeppner was ordered to pay the Wheat Board's legal fees. Hoeppner has alleged that the Wheat Board withholds information from producers, though others have disputed his claims.
In 1996, he spoke out against a federal measure that extended anti-discrimination provisions to homosexuals by claiming that homosexuality was the cause of civil war in Liberia and Zambia. These comments were widely ridiculed, and Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy referred to Hoeppner's observations as "probably the most ultimate example of stupidity I've seen (from) a Reform MP".
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