John Henry "Jack" Horner (July 20, 1927 – November 18, 2004) was a Canadian rancher, politician, and Cabinet minister. Life and career Nicknamed "Cactus Jack", Horner was born in Saskatchewan, the fifth child in a family of six boys and three girls. His mother's uncle had been a prisoner of Louis Riel's provisional government. His father, Ralph Horner, was a failed Conservative candidate who was appointed to the board of directors of Canadian National Railways by the government of R. B. Bennett in 1931, and then to the Senate of Canada in 1933. Jack Horner moved to Alberta at the age of 18 to manage a ranch purchased by his father and then bought his own ranch in 1947. He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1958 federal election from the rural central Alberta riding of Acadia, when the Progressive Conservative Party of which he was a member won the biggest majority government in Canadian history. Horner was an avid supporter of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker. Also elected to the Parliament of Canada as Tories were his older brother, Hugh Horner and cousin Albert Horner. With Jack Horner's father, Ralph, still sitting as a Senator, four Horners were sitting in the two chambers of Parliament simultaneously. Another brother, Norval Horner, was elected to the House in 1972. When Acadia was abolished in 1968, the bulk of it was absorbed into the new riding of Crowfoot, and Horner ran from this riding and won. According to Jack Horner's obituary in The Globe and Mail newspaper: He presented himself as a friend of farmers, a foe of railways, an advocate of capital punishment, a critic of generous unemployment payments, an opponent of the right to strike in essential services, and at all times a staunch free enterpriser. He railed against any changes to the Crow's Nest Pass rate that might hurt farmers. He was alert to any threat of socialism, whether from the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, Opposition Liberals, or the Red Tories in his own party. Horner developed a reputation as a right winger and outspoken advocate for the rights of farmers and ranchers. He remained one of "Diefenbaker's cowboys" during the 1960s, backing Diefenbaker against the ultimately successful attempts to unseat him. At the 1966 Tory convention which changed the rules to allow a challenge to a sitting leader, Horner threw a punch at Dalton