Frank Drea

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James Francis (Frank) Drea (July 7, 1933 - January 15, 2003) was a Canadian journalist, broadcaster, politician and racehorse enthusiast.

Drea was born in St. Catharines, Ontario, and educated at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, USA. He was hired by the Toronto Telegram in 1955, and was a long-time reporter and columnist at the paper. In 1961, he won the National Newspaper Award and the Heywood Broun Award for Crusading Journalism for his work as a labour reporter for his coverage of a strike by Italian-Canadian building trade workers.

From 1963 to 1965, he worked as public relations director for the United Steel Workers of America in Sudbury, Ontario. A fervent anti-Communist, Drea played a leading role in the Steelworkers' unsuccessful campaign to raid and destroy the Communist Party influenced Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union which had dominated the mining industry in Sudbury. Drea's campaign was a failure, and he was fired.

He returned to the Telegram in 1965 as the paper's Action Line columnist, serving as an early consumer advocate. He remained with the newspaper until shortly before its demise in 1971, and also worked for CTV on the public affairs program W5.

Drea was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1971 provincial election as the Progressive Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament for Scarborough Centre. He defeated incumbent New Democrat Margaret Renwick by 4,873 votes. Drea was re-elected with smaller pluralities in the 1975 and 1977 elections, and by a larger percentage in 1981.

After serving for several years on the backbench, he was brought into the provincial cabinet of Bill Davis following the 1977 provincial election as Minister of Correctional Services. He initiated reforms in the province's system of jails, including the closure of the original Don Jail. On entering cabinet, Drea publicly revealed his battle with alcoholism, pledging to stop drinking in order to set an example for prisoners.

In 1978, he was appointed Minister of Consumer and Commercial Relations. After the 1981 provincial election, he became Minister of Community and Social Services, and is credited with improving the status of people with disabilities.

He served in cabinet until Bill Davis retired as Premier of Ontario in 1985. Drea supported Roy McMurtry's bid to succeed Davis as party leader, and voted for Larry Grossman on the second ballot following McMurtry's elimination. Interestingly, he supported Frank Miller over Grossman on the third and final ballot. Drea explained that he had planned to support Miller after McMurtry's elimination, and only went to Grossman for one ballot on McMurtry's recommendation. He was not re-appointed to Miller's cabinet and instead served as parliamentary assistant to the premier, a position which carries little actual authority. He did not run in the 1985 election.

The Miller government lost power and Miller's successor, Liberal Premier David Peterson, appointed Drea chairman of the Ontario Racing Commission. Drea remained chairman until his retirement in 1994. He died on January 15, 2003 from pneumonia.