Harris Turner (October 3, 1887 – August 12, 1972) was a Canadian journalist, soldier, publisher, and politician in Saskatchewan.

Defeated in the 1925 election, he sat briefly on the Saskatoon City Council (1929–1930), before retiring for health reasons.

He worked for ten years with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, finally retiring in 1945.

At some point, Turner came west and worked as a journalist in different locations, including in New Westminster, British Columbia.

Turner was wounded, permanently losing the sight in both eyes, an injury attributed to "shell shock".

[2][3][4][5] On his return to Saskatchewan, Turner was active in the Great War Veterans Association of Canada, one of the predecessors of the Royal Canadian Legion.

[3][6] Before joining the military, Turner was engaged to be married to Alice M. Moyer, daughter of a doctor in Saskatoon.

[12] In December 1917, the Unionist party won a strong majority in the federal Parliament, including sweeping all sixteen of Saskatchewan's seats, with four acclamations.

[14] Turner participated in the debate on the throne speech, but his main activity in the session was to introduce a motion calling on the Liberal provincial government to release all able-bodied men in the provincial public service for military service.

[19] It is not clear how many of the Independent candidates were affiliated to some degree with the co-ordinating committee chaired by Turner.

[20] In the Saskatoon City riding, Turner again topped the poll, coming in first of the five candidates, with 26% of the total votes cast.

[20][21] However, by 1924 Turner was the leader of the opposition, the result of a complicated political falling-out between Premier Martin and the Minister of Agriculture, John Maharg.

In the run-up to the 1921 Saskatchewan election, Premier Martin recruited him to provincial politics, bringing with him his strong farm support.

[21][22][23][24] Speaking in the Assembly, Turner argued that the episode showed the need for the complete abolition of the party system.

He suggested that the entire principle of confidence votes should be eliminated and that each member should have complete freedom to bring matters forward in the Assembly.

[22][26] Speaking at a political meeting in 1923, Turner again stated that the episode showed the major defects in the party system.

[21] In the session of the Assembly held in the fall of 1924, the government introduced new amendments to expand access to liquor, following the plebiscite which had favoured reduction in prohibition.

Turner spoke against the bill, stating that it still was based on the policy which had caused prohibition in the first place.

[3][4][35] When the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool was established in 1924, Turner and Waldron renamed the paper The Western Producer.

[37] McNaughton had significant influence in the editorial direction of the new paper, particularly through weekly columns addressing issues of interest to farm women.

[40] One of the candidates he defeated was a rising young lawyer, Emmett Hall, who later became a judge of the Supreme Court of Canada.

He was granted another three-month leave in July, but finally had to resign his seat for health reasons in October 1930.

[3] After resigning from Saskatoon City Council due to ill health, Turner and his family moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he worked for ten years for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

[3] Turner continued to write freelance, and had a regular column in The Western Producer, called "Southeast Corner", until the late 1950s.

In 1969, the Star-Phoenix erroneously reported that he had died, based on a tip from a family friend, but he in fact lived for three more years.