O-3677

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painting (portrait)

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The Honourable John Bosley

Portrait of Speaker John Bosley

John Bosley was a Toronto businessman first elected to Parliament as a Progressive Conservative in 1979. He was appointed Speaker in 1984, and experienced a few rough moments as he attempted to keep order. Both government and opposition members criticized his performance, and he once ejected a Liberal MP for disrespecting his authority. He resigned suddenly in 1986 and cited undisciplined behaviour in the chamber and the diminishment of public respect for Parliament. He lost his seat in the 1993 election that reduced the PC party to two seats. His portrait was painted by Ottawa artist Shirley Van Dusen in 1993.

Shirley Van Dusen

Ottawa artist and art teacher Shirley Van Dusen studied at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto, and studied portraiture in Ottawa with Robert Hyndman. She has completed many paintings and portraits of politicians and their families. In 1998 her painting of skaters on the Rideau Canal was chosen by the National Capital Commission to represent Winterlude, the city of Ottawa’s annual winter festival. The Van Dusen family is an institution in Ottawa, as her late husband Tom was a journalist and a speechwriter and advisor to many politicians, and most of their seven children have worked in journalism.