Jack Harris was re-elected Member of Parliament for the Riding of St. John's East on May 2, 2011. Initially, he was elected the MP for St. John's East on October 14, 2008, and received 74.1% of the vote, the fifth highest winning percentage in Canada.
Jack was Leader of the New Democratic Party of Newfoundland and Labrador from November 1992 to May 2006. He served as a Member of Parliament (1987-88) and a Member of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly between1990 and 2006.
Jack was born in St. John’s and received his early education at St. Bonaventure’s College and Brother Rice High School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Memorial University, a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of Alberta and a Master’s in Law from the London School of Economics.
Admitted to the Bar of Newfoundland in 1980, Jack has practiced in the areas of criminal, labour and family law and general practice, with a major emphasis on labour law. In the 1990s, he successfully represented former residents of the Mt. Cashel Orphanage before the Hughes Inquiry and in lawsuits against the Christian Brothers and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador arising out of a major sexual abuse scandal.
Jack has received a number of awards and honours, including the Schumiachter Award for Advocacy, Western Canada Moot Court Competition Winner, Viscount Bennett Scholarship-Law Society of Alberta, Rothermere Fellowship, Canada 125 Medal, and the Queen’s Jubilee Medal in 1992. He received the Queen’s Counsel designation in 1997 and was recently recognized by the University of Alberta, receiving an Alumni Honour Award at the University’s 100th anniversary celebrations.
Jack is a founding member and a Vice-President of the Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers and serves on the Executive Council of the Newfoundland Pony Society.
Jack Harris is married to Ann Martin, a St. John’s lawyer; they have three children.