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David Emerson, PC , MP , MA , Ph.D (born September 17 , 1945 , in Montreal, Quebec ) is a Canadian Politician , who was previously a Businessman and a Civil Servant . Emerson is Minister Of International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics in the Canadian Cabinet . Like all other federal cabinet members, he is a member of the Queen's Privy Council For Canada and has the right to the style The Honourable for life. Emerson has been the Member Of Parliament for the Riding of Vancouver Kingsway in British Columbia since 2004 . He was first elected as a Liberal and served as Minister Of Industry under Prime Minister Paul Martin . He was re-elected in the 2006 Federal Election as a Liberal. However, on February 6 2006 , he Crossed The Floor to the Conservative Party Of Canada and joined Stephen Harper 's minority Conservative Cabinet on the day it was sworn in. He is the first Canadian MP to cross the floor after being officially elected, but before being officially sworn in. EARLY LIFE AND BUSINESS CAREER David Emerson attended the University Of Alberta and obtained his Bachelor of Economics degree in 1968 and his Master of Economics degree in 1970. He then went on to Queen's University where he received his Ph.D in Economics . In 1975, after working as a researcher for the Economic Council of Canada, he moved to British Columbia and joined the public service. In 1984, he became Deputy Minister of Finance. In 1986, he was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the Western And Pacific Bank Of Canada . He transformed it into the Western Bank of Canada- the only regional bank to survive and prosper. Four years later, he returned as Deputy Minister of Finance and was quickly promoted to Deputy Minister to the Premier and President of the British Columbia Trade Development Corporation . From 1992 to 1997, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of the newly created Vancouver International Airport Authority . In 1998, Emerson was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Canfor Corporation , a leading integrated Forest products company and Canada's largest producer of Softwood Lumber . With 8,100 workers and annual revenues of $3.2 billion servicing 10 % of the U.S. market, Canfor operates Pulp and Paper Mill s as well as 19 Sawmill s across B.C., two in Alberta and one in Quebec. Despite US duties and a higher Canadian dollar, Emerson managed to increase profits and raise share prices through a major Acquisition deal and efficiency upgrades, which increased capacity by 30% while reducing production costs by 24%. Emerson's directorships included: Terasen Inc ; Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Company Of Canada ; Vice-Chairman of the Canadian Council Of Chief Executives ; Chair, British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. ; and Chairman and Director of Genus Resource Management Technologies Inc. ELECTION HISTORY Bypassing the nomination process, Paul Martin appointed David Emerson as the Liberal candidate in Vancouver Kingsway for the until 1988 , when the riding was abolished and Waddell transferred to Port Moody—Coquitlam . The 2006 election saw a rematch between Emerson and Waddell. This time, Emerson won handily, defeating Waddell by nearly 10 points as the Liberals nearly swept Vancouver. Emerson attracted some media attention in December 2005 with a comment that NDP leader Jack Layton had a "boiled dog's head smile". While the term is translated from the common and mild Cantonese insult "烚熟狗頭", Emerson said that he believed it to be a humourous phrase indicating a person with an "overextended grin". Emerson said that his wife, a Cantonese speaker, used the phrase to describe him when he posed for pictures. CROSSING THE FLOOR Either during the campaign or immediately afterwards (the chronology is a matter of dispute), Emerson accepted an offer from Harper to cross the floor and become Minister of International Trade in Harper's new Conservative minority government. According to Emerson, British Columbia Conservative campaign coordinator , claimed on February 10 that Emerson was seriously considering crossing the floor during the run-up to the election. Wong added that he would have stood down in Emerson's favour had he done so. {Link without Title} Emerson's decision was kept secret from the public, his fellow Liberals, and most Conservatives until February 6 when Emerson turned up at ). Interestingly, he is ahead of Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay , even though MacKay is Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party. {Link without Title} Emerson had given no public indication that he was thinking of leaving the Liberal Party at any stage during the election campaign. Indeed, he had been featured prominently in Liberal TV ads in British Columbia promoting that party as the best choice for voters. He launched several blistering attacks against Harper and the Conservatives during the campaign, including one assertion that under a Harper government, "the strong survive and the weak die." On election night, he told supporters that he wanted to be "Stephen Harper's worst nightmare." He struck a different tone after being sworn in. He told CTV that he had always run his riding office on a nonpartisan basis and that his first priority was serving the people of Vancouver Kingsway. He did say, however, that he would have stayed on as a Cabinet minister under Martin had the Liberals won reelection. [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060206/emerson_defection_060206 CONTROVERSY Part of the Emerson controversy stems from Vancouver Kingsway's voting history. The riding has long been one of the more left-leaning ones in Vancouver; most election battles take place between the Liberals and NDP. Vancouver Kingsway previously existed from 1953 -88, and only elected a PC candidate once, during the 1958 Tory Landslide . It has not elected a Conservative or any member of its predecessor parties since its recreation in 1997 . The Conservative candidate in 2006, Wong, finished a distant third with only 8,700 votes--12,000 votes behind Emerson and 7,000 behind Waddell--and 19% of the total vote. In the 2004 election, the Conservative candidate, Jesse Johl, finished with 16.5% of the vote. Both totals were far less than the combined PC/Canadian Alliance vote of 34.4% in 2000 . The NDP's vote share of less than 16% in that 2000 election jumped to more than 37% when Emerson first ran in 2004. Liberal MP and former Minister Of Health Ujjal Dosanjh noted that a poll held prior to the election showed less than 20 per cent of residents in the riding knew Emerson by name, lending credence to the assertions that the Liberal banner played a large part in his election and re-election. Liberal National President has also called for an inquiry, claiming that the additional benefits Emerson would receive as a Cabinet member compared to those he would have received as an opposition MP carry at least the appearance that Emerson acted in his own private interest. {Link without Title} Bill Graham , acting parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party and Leader Of The Opposition , called Emerson's behavior cynical and claimed his actions diminished "the faith of citizens in a system under which we have to govern." Martin, who left on a vacation to Europe shortly after resigning as prime minister, was "astonished" by Emerson's defection and criticized both Emerson and Harper for avoiding "an appropriate level of scrutiny on this matter -- a decision that I believe robs Canadians and the people of Vancouver Kingsway of a deserved explanation." Criticism has also come from Emerson's fellow Conservatives. of Alberta has also called for Emerson to step down and run in a by-election. {Link without Title} However, MacKay told CTV's Mike Duffy Live that Emerson merely wanted to continue the work he already started under Martin on a multi-billion dollar Softwood Lumber deal with the United States --a deal that could potentially bring a huge windfall to Canada. He later said that there was no comparision between Emerson's switch and that of Stronach. Reynolds also defended Emerson's switch, saying that Vancouver Kingsway is much better off since "instead of having someone in opposition, they have someone who is a cabinet minister of a new government." The defection also has the support of Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan , British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell , the Vancouver Board of Trade, former Prime Minister Kim Campbell , as well as several prominent businessmen in Vancouver. In a letter dated Monday after claiming he was snarled up in traffic. In its February 9 edition, the Toronto Star reported Liberal accusations that Emerson delayed the closing of the softwood lumber deal in the waning days of the Liberal government to benefit Harper, although there is no evidence as of yet that Emerson was considering joining the Conservatives at that time. The Star said that the deal was delayed because "the former Liberal industry minister worried that a pre-election announcement would damage Liberal prospects in key British Columbia ridings." {Link without Title} Bill Casey , a Conservative MP from Nova Scotia , suggested that there was considerable wariness among his colleagues that Emerson was in charge of the softwood lumber file again. Harper and other Cabinet members have remained mostly quiet on the issue, leaving Conservative Backbencher s to answer Liberal and NDP attacks. The furor has generated support for legislation requiring MPs who switch parties to step down and run for their own vacancy in a by-election. NDP MP Peter Stoffer announced on February 13 that he would reintroduce a Private Member's Bill making such a provision. Turner plans to introduce a similar bill, despite pressure from his party to back off. Speaking on Vancouver radio station CKNW , Emerson said he would be glad to discuss the bill in Parliament. "I'll participate in that debate, I may even vote for it," he said, "and I will certainly abide by it." Emerson voted against Stoffer's earlier floor-crossing bill (C-251) during the last Canadian Parliament, where it was defeated. [http://www.howdtheyvote.ca/vote.php?id=241 Emerson has vowed to resign only if such a law were passed retroactively, or if the ethics commissioner found him to be at fault. A crowd of over 700 {Link without Title} gathered at an NDP-organized protest rally in Emerson's riding on Saturday February 11 . Another smaller rally took place at Emerson's riding office the next day. Several Online Petition s have been started calling for Emerson's resignation or recall, the largest of which has gathered over 20,000 electronic signatures from interested parties as of March 3 . On April 2, a crowd, variously estimated between 1000 and 1200 participated in a Walk For Democracy organized by a group calling themselves Real Democracy . At times the tightly packed crowd stretched out over five blocks along one lane of Kingsway as the march proceeded along the 2 kilometre route past Emerson's constituency office to the rally. The next day, another group flew an airplane over Canada's parliament asking the Member of Parliament to "call home". This was in reference to the fact that David Emerson had not been seen in the riding for the months of February and March. According to an online poll from The Globe And Mail , 77% of respondents want Emerson to step down and run in a by-election. A similar online poll conducted by Maclean's magazine showed 66% want Emerson to run in a by-election. Ipsos Reid in mid-February 2006 conducted a poll of British Columbians and found that even in staunchly Conservative areas of the province, respondents were 75% in favour of a by-election being called. On , 2006 , Shapiro stated that he was "satisfied that no special inducement was offered by Mr. Harper to convince Mr. Emerson to join his cabinet and his party." While he found no wrongdoing on Emerson's part, he did recommend that Parliament debate the process of switching parties. {Link without Title}
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