Timmins and Northern Ontario has lost a friend.
Alan Pope, a well-known lawyer and former politician, passed away at age 76. Pope was a former member of Timmins council, Member of Provincial Parliament and Provincial Cabinet Minister. He practiced law for the firm of Racicot, Maisonneuve, Labelle, Gosselin.
Timmins MP Charlie Angus remembers Pope fondly – even though they belonged to two different political parties, Angus NDP and Pope a Progressive Conservative.
“I had enormous respect for Alan Pope,” Angus said. “Alan was an old-school politician. He put the interests of the community, the North and the province first.
“He was always a very class act and I had a lot of admiration for him.”
Timmins Councillor Andrew Marks grew up admiring Pope and volunteered to help get him elected to Queen’s Park.
“I have the utmost respect for Alan Pope and his accomplishments. He was a mentor of mine in many different ways,” Marks said. “Certainly, being from Timmins, representing Timmins, being a voice for Timmins was something I looked up to. I learned a lot from him very, very early on.
“When he was first elected as MPP, I was not even voting age but I was a volunteer for the Young Progressive Conservatives, wanting to help him. On his very first election night, he signed an election sign for me and it’s something that I still have today.”
He said Pope was always a great representative at every political level.
“As an alderman, he certainly represented Timmins well that way, and aspired to a higher office and contributed to the province, giving Timmins a voice,” Marks said. “When I look back at his entire political career, it was always about being from Timmins and Northern Ontario. He was a strong voice and advocate for all of us.”
Pope was a member of the inaugural City of Timmins Council, following amalgamation, in 1973.
In 1977, he was first elected MPP for Cochrane South. Under Premier Bill Davis, he was promoted to provincial cabinet as a minister without portfolio in 1979. Following re-election in 1981, Pope was appointed to the Davis cabinet as Minister of Natural Resources.
He served as local MPP until the 1990 provincial election, when he chose not to seek re-election. He continued to practice law.
In 2006, he wrote a report about the Kashechewan Crisis. Pope’s recommendation was that the First Nation community be relocated to a new site closer to Timmins.
Flags at Timmins City Hall will be lowered to half-mast for the remainder of the week in Pope’s honour.
“I absolutely miss him and send my condolences to his family,” Marks said. “He certainly was taken too early and I think we should all look back at his legacy as something that has helped all of us become better people.”
