John Richards (scholar)

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John Richards is a UK-born professor at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in British Columbia Canada. During the 1970's, he served as an elected member of the legislature in the province of Saskatchewan.

A member of the social democratic New Democratic Party (NDP), Richards was for a time the only elected official who supported The Waffle, a group of intellectuals and students who tried to push the NDP further to the left. He left the NDP over its refusal to nationalize the potash industry, and sat as an independent socialist until the next election, when he was defeated and turned to academia.

In recent decades Richards's views have moderated, and he became an early exponent of the 'Third Way' politics popularized by UK Labour Party leader Tony Blair. He remains one of Canada's foremost political intellectuals, writing and editing a series of books and articles that suggest the development of more pragmatic social democratic politics. Richards was also instrumental in the creation of the new school of public administration at SFU.