Ian Munro Murray
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Ian Munro Murray (born May 7, 1951) is a Canadian politician. He served in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 2000, as a member of the Liberal Party.
Murray was born in Sarnia, Ontario, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of Guelph in 1973. He had an extensive career in Canadian politics before running for office himself. Murray was a research assistant for a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 to 1976, and a special assistant to the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Communications from 1976 to 1977. From 1977 to 1979 and 1980 to 1982, he served as special assistant to the Minister of Veterans Affairs. Murray served with Northern Telecom Ltd. from 1982 to 1993, and was director of Government Relations from 1987.
He won the Liberal nomination for Lanark—Carleton in 1993 under unusual conditions. After five counts on a preferential ballot, Murray and another candidate were deadlocked in support. The returning officer broke the tie by giving Murray the nomination, but his opponent appealed this decision to party headquarters. The nomination was finally decided by a coin toss. Murray disapproved of this selection method and boycotted the proceedings, but the decision nonetheless went in his favour and he was formally approved as a candidate (Ottawa Citizen, 18 May 1993). He was elected by a landslide in the 1993 federal election, defeating Progressive Conservative incumbent Paul Dick by over 18,000 votes in a riding that has not traditionally voted Liberal.
Murray considered voting against his government's gun control bill in 1995, but ultimately supported the government side. In 1996, he voted against second reading of a government bill extended anti-discrimination protection to gays and lesbians. Murray claimed he did not object to the principle of the bill, but opposed it on the grounds that it could result in a redefinition of the traditional family (Ottawa Citizen, 3 May 1996).
In 1997, Murray was accused of stalking a woman in Ottawa with whom he had previously been involved in an extra-marital relationship. He acknowledged the affair but denied the accusation, and was defended on the point by his wife. The charge was dropped in 1998 (Ottawa Citizen, 3 June 1998) when the crown attorney's office found no reasonable prospect of convention, but a second request for a restraining order was issued in 1999. Following the second charge, Murray was quoted as saying, "She told me she was going to try and ruin my career. I've considered civil action against her in the past and decided against it. Perhaps now I'll have to go ahead." (Ottawa Citizen, 27 April 1999) He chose to accept the restraining order the following week, saying "I can't afford to hire a lawyer to fight it, it's not worth it." (Ottawa Citizen, 1 May 1999)
He lost his seat to Canadian Alliance candidate Scott Reid in 2000 election. In 2003, Murray was appointed to a ten-year term on the Veterans Review and Appeals Board by the government of Jean Chrétien (Ottawa Citizen, 25 July 2003).
