Profile of John Beck on Famous Like Me

John Beck was a Reform Party candidate in the 1993 Canadian election who was forced to abandon his candidacy after making a series of anti-immigrant remarks.

Beck was an heir to the Beck Taxi family, but received only a grade 9 education. He worked as a taxi driver, but was barred from operating in Toronto by the Metro Licensing Commission. He responded to an advertisement asking for Reform candidates and won the nomination in York Centre, outside of Toronto. The area was far from the Reform base and there were few candidates willing to run, and Beck was given little scrutiny when he applied.

In an interview with the York University student newspaper he stated that "You have a $150,000 guy there coming to buy a citizenship into Canada to create a job, fine, he's bringing something to Canada. But what is he bringing? Death and destruction to the people." He later reiterated his comments telling the CBC that "I feel if an immigrant comes into Canada and gets a job for $150,000, he is taking jobs away from us, the gentile people." In another interview with the Financial Post, Beck said that "I feel it's time some white Anglo-Saxons get involved" in politics and told another paper that "it seems to be predominantly Jewish people who are running this country." After the remarks became public Beck was asked to resign his candidacy, and he did so. The party quickly distanced themselves from his remarks. Beck remained on the ballot and ended up getting 2,141 votes and finishing fourth.

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