Francis Lawrence Jobin

Who was Francis Lawrence Jobin?

Francis Laurence Jobin was a politician and the 18th Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, Canada.

Jobin was born in Winnipeg, and was educated at the University of Manitoba. He moved to Flin Flon, in the northern part of the province, in 1935. He worked for Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting as a labourer, miner and surveyor, later working in the company's purchasing department.

Jobin was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in the 1949 provincial election, as a Liberal candidate supporting the government of Premier Douglas Campbell. Running in The Pas, he easily defeated independent incumbent Beresford Richards, who opposed the governing Liberal-Conservative coalition.

Jobin was re-elected in the 1953 election, easily defeating opponents from the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and Social Credit. On July 6, 1956, he was sworn in as Railway Commissioner and Minister of Industry and Commerce in the Campbell government. Provincial CCF leader Lloyd Stinson later referred to Jobin as Campbell's only "labour-oriented" minister.

Campbell's Liberals were defeated by Dufferin Roblin's Progressive Conservatives in the 1958 election, but Jobin was able to retain the redistributed riding of Flin Flon. He was defeated by Progressive Conservative Charles Witney in the following year's election, however, as Roblin's Tories won a majority government.