Ralph Bronson Cowan (May 6, 1902 – April 21, 1990) was a Canadian politician, who represented York—Humber in the House of Commons of Canada from 1962 to 1968.
In 1964, he filed a lawsuit against the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation after it converted its secondary Toronto station CJBC to an affiliate of the francophone Radio-Canada network, arguing that since the French language had no legal status outside of Quebec, the station's conversion to French was inappropriate and illegal;[3] however, his case was dismissed by the Ontario Supreme Court in 1965 on the grounds that Cowan did not have legal standing and could not show material harm from the format change.
[4] Although a Liberal, Cowan was considered a renegade and often voted against his own caucus;[5] most notably, he filibustered both Lawrence Pennell's 1967 bill to abolish capital punishment in Canada[6] and the 1968 Broadcasting Act,[7] and opposed Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau's 1968 revisions to the Criminal Code, including the decriminalization of homosexuality and abortion.
[11] He ran in the 1968 federal election as an Independent Liberal in High Park after being expelled from caucus,[12] and distributed pamphlets published by far right activist Ron Gostick alleging that Trudeau was a communist sympathizer as part of his campaign,[13] but was defeated by Liberal candidate Walter Deakon.
[14] Following his federal defeat, Cowan attempted to intervene in the 1969 election for Metro Toronto Chairman, alleging in a speech made days before the election that the York mayor Jack Mould had a personal financial interest in a construction company whose tax arrears had been written off by York's municipal council.