Article

John Meisel

Published Online September 4, 2008

Last Edited December 15, 2013

John Meisel, educator, public servant (b at Vienna, Austria 23 Oct 1923). He is known to academics as a leading student of Canadian politics and to the public as chairman of the CANADIAN RADIO-TELEVISION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CRTC).

John Meisel

John Meisel, educator, public servant (b at Vienna, Austria 23 Oct 1923). He is known to academics as a leading student of Canadian politics and to the public as chairman of the CANADIAN RADIO-TELEVISION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CRTC). Meisel was educated at schools in Czechoslovakia and, after his family came to Canada, at U of T and London School of Economics. In 1949 he joined the politics dept of Queen's and, after switching research interests from international relations to politics, he published ground-breaking work on the 1957 and 1962 general elections as well as other studies on the Canadian political system.

He served on a number of royal commissions in research capacities, and in Dec 1979 the Clark government named him head of the CRTC. He served there until Oct 1983 and presided over the introduction of pay-TV into Canada. Since 1983 he has been Sir Edward Peacock professor of political science at Queen's. Meisel was named an Officer in the Order of Canada in 1989.