David Emerson

David Lee Emerson, (born September 17, 1945) is a Canadian politician, financial executive, and economist.

He was formerly the Member of Parliament for the riding of Vancouver Kingsway.

He was first elected as a Liberal and served as Minister of Industry under Prime Minister Paul Martin.

After controversially crossing the floor to join Stephen Harper's Conservatives, he served as Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics, followed by Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Emerson was born in Montreal, Quebec.

He 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, Emerson moved to British Columbia and joined the public service.

Waddell had previously represented Vancouver Kingsway from 1979 until 1988, when the riding was abolished and Waddell transferred to Port Moody—Coquitlam.

In 1984, he became deputy minister of finance.

In 1986, Emerson was appointed president and chief executive officer of the Western & 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, Emerson 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 mills as well as 19 sawmills across British Columbia, 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%.

Bypassing the nomination process, Paul Martin appointed David Emerson as the Liberal candidate in Vancouver Kingsway for the 2004 election.

In the general election, he narrowly defeated Ian Waddell of the New Democratic Party (NDP) by 1,351 votes.

He was ranked third in Cabinet in the order of precedence, behind Harper and House Leader Rob Nicholson, by virtue of his appointment to the Privy Council in 2004.

Emerson had given no public indication that he was thinking of leaving the Liberal Party during the election campaign, Wong's remarks notwithstanding.

As a Cabinet minister 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 [would] survive and the weak die".

On election night, he told supporters that he wanted to be "Stephen Harper's worst nightmare."

In an interview with CTV after being sworn in, he clarified to reporters about the heated partisan rhetoric used during the campaign.

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 humorous 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.

At some point between election day and the day Stephen Harper was due to be sworn in as prime minister, 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 John Reynolds called him the day after the election to ask if he was interested in having a conversation with Harper.

Gaining regional representation in Cabinet from key metropolitan areas, such as Vancouver, according to Harper, was key to the decision in asking Emerson to cross the floor.

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.

Indeed, 2006 marked the first time in decades that a centre-right party had been completely shut out in Vancouver.

However, Emerson's Conservative opponent, Kanman Wong, claimed on February 10, 2006, 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.

In any case, Emerson's decision was kept secret from his Liberal colleagues, the press, and even most Conservatives until February 6, 2006, when he arrived at Rideau Hall, the official residence of the Governor General, for the swearing-in of the new government.

In 2008, Emerson joined private equity firm CAI Capital Management as a senior advisor.

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.

In addition to his International Trade portfolio, Emerson was given responsibility for the Pacific Gateway and the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, areas of particular importance to the riding of Vancouver-Kingsway and in general, the Greater Vancouver area.