David Lee Emerson (born September 17, 1945) is a Canadian politician and economist who was the member of Parliament (MP) for Vancouver Kingsway from 2004 to 2008. First elected as a Liberal, Emerson served as minister of industry from 2004 to 2006 under Prime Minister Paul Martin. After the Conservatives formed government in the 2006 general election, Emerson crossed the floor and went on to serve as the minister of international trade from 2006 to 2008 and minister of foreign affairs in 2008 under Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Early life and business career Born in Montreal, Quebec, Emerson grew up in Grande Prairie, Alberta. He attended the University of Alberta, obtaining his Bachelor of Economics degree in 1968 and his Master of Economics degree in 1970; he subsequently received his Ph.D in economics from Queen's University. After working as a researcher for the Economic Council of Canada, Emerson moved to British Columbia in 1975 and joined the provincial public service, becoming deputy minister of finance in 1984.
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 BC's deputy minister of finance, later becoming deputy minister to the premier and president of the British Columbia Trade Development Corporation. He left the BC government in 1992 to become the president and chief executive officer of the newly created Vancouver International Airport Authority.
In 1998, he 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%.
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.
Election history Bypassing the nomination process, Liberal leader Paul Martin appointed David Emerson as the party's 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. Waddell had previously represented Vancouver Kingsway from 1979 until 1988, when the riding was abolished and Waddell transferred to Port Moody—Coquitlam. Emerson was named to Martin's cabinet in July 2004 as minister of industry.
The 2006 election saw a rematch between Emerson and Waddell. Emerson won handily this time, defeating Waddell by nearly 10 points. Prior to the election, 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.
Crossing the floor
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 Harper, gaining regional representation in cabinet from key metropolitan areas such as Vancouver was key to the decision in asking Emerson to cross the floor. Indeed, 2006 marked the first time in decades that a centre-right party had been completely shut out in Vancouver.
According to Emerson, British Columbia Conservative campaign coordinator John Reynolds called him after the election to ask if he was interested in having a conversation with Harper. 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 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. 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 told CTV that he ran his riding office on a nonpartisan basis, and that his first priority was the interests of the people of Vancouver Kingsway.
Controversy Part of the Emerson controversy stemmed 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 to 1988 and elected a Progressive Conservative (PC) candidate only once, when John Ferguson Browne won the riding during the 1958 Tory landslide. It has not elected a Conservative or any member of its predecessor parties—the PCs, the Reform Party of Canada or the Canadian Alliance—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 Mike Eizenga said that Emerson knew "if he was running in that riding as a Conservative, he wouldn't have a chance" and demanded his resignation. Democracy Watch, a nonpartisan ethics watchdog, said it planned to complain to the Ethics Commissioner since Emerson was still technically a Liberal minister when he accepted Harper's offer. The group claimed that Emerson's switch violated the federal ethics code and post-employment regulations for officeholders. NDP MP Peter Julian also called for an inquiry, claiming that the additional benefits Emerson received as a member compared to those he would have received as an opposition MP carried at least the appearance that Emerson acted in his own private interest.
Bill Graham, acting parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition, called Emerson's behaviour 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 also came from Emerson's fellow Conservatives. Garth Turner, a Conservative MP from Ontario said that "anyone who crosses the floor ultimately should go back to the people for ratification and I stick by it and hopefully in this case that will happen..." Turner later stated his belief that his criticism "seriously limited" his future in the party. Subsequently, he was eventually kicked out of the Conservative caucus and crossed the floor to sit as a Liberal for which he was also criticized. Myron Thompson of Alberta also called for Emerson to step down and run in a by-election.
However, Peter MacKay told CTV's Mike Duffy Live that Emerson wanted to continue and finish the work he had already started as Minister of Industry under Martin on a multibillion-dollar softwood lumber deal with the United States—a deal that could potentially bring a huge windfall to Canada and particularly Emerson's major lumber producing province, British Columbia. MacKay later also said that there was no comparison between Emerson's switch and that of Belinda Stronach.
Reynolds also defended Emerson's switch, saying that Vancouver Kingsway got the better end of the bargain since "instead of having someone in opposition, they have someone who is a cabinet minister of a new government." As Minister of International Trade, Emerson would have key influence on matters relevant to constituents of Vancouver-Kingsway particularly as the Greater Vancouver area prepared for the 2010 Olympics. The defection also had 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 February 6, the Vancouver Kingsway Liberal riding association requested that Emerson repay $97,000 spent during his re-election campaign. Emerson stated that he did not intend to repay any expenses, arguing that he had raised large sums for the Liberal party from his corporate connections. On February 8, 2006, Emerson described Liberal attacks on his defection as a sign of "deep sickness" and said that his children were being treated with hostility at school because of his defection. Harper called the attacks on Emerson "superficial," saying that the switch was made "in the best interests of not just British Columbia but good government". Emerson had given some thought to resigning over the furore, but told CBC News in Vancouver on February 10 that he would not resign or run in a by-election. Aside from that appearance, Emerson cancelled a telephone press conference on February 9 due to traffic.