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John Joseph Horgan (August 7, 1959 – November 12, 2024) was a Canadian politician and diplomat who served as the 36th premier of British Columbia (BC) from 2017 to 2022 and the Canadian ambassador to Germany from 2023 to 2024. He was elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in 2005, representing Langford-Juan de Fuca and its predecessors until 2023. Horgan served as leader of the BC New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2014 to 2022.
Horgan was born and raised in Victoria, British Columbia. He attended Reynolds Secondary School in Saanich, before moving to Peterborough, Ontario, to attend Trent University, where he met his wife, Ellie, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1983. Horgan studied in Australia at the University of Sydney, earning a master’s in history in 1986 before he returned to Canada to work in politics and public policy. Horgan was elected to the BC Legislative Assembly in 2005.
In June 2006, he was appointed the Opposition critic for energy and mines in NDP leader Carole James’s shadow cabinet, having previously served as the Opposition critic for education. In January 2011, he announced his candidacy for leadership of the BC NDP in the 2011 leadership election, finishing third. Following the leadership election, he was appointed the Official Opposition critic for Energy, and Opposition house leader.
On March 17, 2014, he announced his candidacy in the 2014 leadership election, with the slogan “Real Leadership. For All BC”. During the campaign, he talked at length about the necessity of balancing the need for jobs and resource development while protecting British Columbia’s natural environment. Horgan was acclaimed to the position on May 1, 2014, and was officially inaugurated as party leader on May 5, 2014.
In the 2017 provincial election held on May 9, 2017, Premier Christy Clark’s BC Liberal government was reduced to 43 seats, one seat short of a majority. On May 29, 2017, it was announced that the NDP and Green Party of British Columbia had reached a confidence and supply agreement in which the Greens would support an NDP minority government for four years. After the legislature was recalled, Clark sought its confidence in the Liberal government. Following a non-confidence motion on June 29, 2017, which was won (44–42) by the combined votes of the NDP and Green members, Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon turned down Clark’s request for a snap election and invited the NDP to form a minority government. Subsequently, Horgan succeeded Clark as the premier of British Columbia. Horgan was the province’s first NDP premier since Ujjal Dosanjh in 2001.
On September 21, 2020, Horgan called a snap election that was held on October 24. On November 8, with the final vote count completed, the NDP won a record 57 seats with the highest share of the popular vote in the party’s history and formed a majority government for the first time since the 1996 general election. The election result made Horgan British Columbia’s first two-term NDP premier. During his second term, Horgan became the longest serving BC NDP premier in the province’s history.
On June 28, 2022, Horgan announced that he would be stepping down as premier and NDP leader once a new leader had been chosen. Horgan was succeeded by David Eby on November 18, 2022. On November 1, 2023, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Horgan would be appointed Canada’s ambassador to Germany. Horgan presented his credentials to the German president on December 8. He served in the position until his death from cancer in November 2024.