turn a phrase and turn on a crowd. I will be proud to serve in the Legislature with Bob Rae as my leader." In the legislature, Johnston served as chair of the NDP caucus and chair of the social development committee during the 1985 to 1987 minority legislature in which the NDP held the balance of power. Johnston, unlike Rae, had originally supported a coalition government with the Liberal Party following the election of 1985. In 1983, Johnston moved a resolution to declare Ontario a nuclear weapons-free zone but it was defeated, a decision that moved him to tears. In 1987 he introduced a private members bill on the same issue and it was passed with support of all three parties. Only 2 Liberals and 7 Conservatives opposed it. He travelled to Nicaragua to help build a school and medical facility. In 1987, he presented a report to the legislature, Toward a New Ontario, which recommended an overhaul of the existing social assistance system. In 1990, Johnston decided to retire from politics. He said that after suffering a heart attack in 1984 he wanted to pursue a career that was easier on his health. After politics Following his departure from politics, Johnston returned to academia serving as chair of the Ontario Council of Regents for the Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology from 1991 to 1995. He then served as president of the First Nations Technical Institute on the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory from 1995 until 1998 as well as a member of Trent University's board of directors. Johnston served as president of Centennial College in Scarborough from 1998 until 2004. In 1995 Johnston and his spouse purchased a farm 5 km West of Wellington in Prince Edward County, Ontario. They started By Chadsey's Cairns, one of the original wineries founded in "The County" in the 1990s, and continue to run the operation to this day. In 2006, he was appointed to the board of trustees for OPSEU's pension trust. References External links 1946 births Canadian socialists Living people Ontario New Democratic Party MPPs People from Pembroke, Ontario Trent University alumni Wine merchants