Norman Turnbull

Norman Leslie Turnbull (August 24, 1900 in Binscarth, Manitoba – January 12, 1986) was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1936 to 1949 as a representative of the Social Credit League, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of John Bracken and Stuart Garson.

The son of James N. R. Turnbull and Cecilia Scarth, Turnbull was educated at the Manitoba Agricultural College, and worked as a flour miller in Hamiota, Manitoba. In 1926, he married Ellen Grace Atkinson.

He was first elected to the Manitoba legislature in the 1936 provincial election, defeating Liberal-Progressive candidate J. Spalding by 222 votes in the Hamiota constituency. Turnbull was one of five Social Credit MLAs elected to the 55-member legislature.

The Manitoba Social Credit League had been created for the 1936 election following the unexpected victory of the Alberta Social Credit Party in that province's 1935 provincial election. The party's MLAs were monetary reformists, and were initially regarded as radicals. After the election, they surprised many in the province by providing support to Liberal-Progressive Premier John Bracken's minority government.

In 1940, Social Credit formally entered government as part of a four-party coalition, which also included the Liberal-Progressives, Conservatives and CCF. Although Turnbull did not lead the Social Credit caucus in the house, he was selected as the party's cabinet representative and was sworn into office on November 4, 1940 as a Minister without portfolio. He was the first Social Credit representative to receive a cabinet position anywhere in the world outside Alberta.

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