Bill Blaikie
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| Born | June 19, 1951 Winnipeg, Manitoba<tr><th>Political party</th> <td> New Democratic Party </td></tr><tr><th>Profession(s)</th><td>Clergyman</td></tr><tr><th>Religion</th><td>United Church of Canada</td></tr> |
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William Alexander "Bill" Blaikie, PC, BA, M.Div. (born June 19, 1951 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is the New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Elmwood-Transcona in the Canadian House of Commons. On April 5, 2006 he was elected Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons. He is the longest serving member of the House of Commons, having first been elected in 1979 and re-elected eight times, most recently on January 23, 2006, and in this capacity serves as the Dean of the House. As a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada (see below), he has the right to the title The Honourable for life.
Blaikie served in the Canada Army Reserve, The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada from 1967 to 1972. He was employed as a labourer on and off with the Canadian National Railway from 1969 to 1974 while going to University. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Religious Studies from the University of Winnipeg in 1973, and a Master's Degree in Divinity from Emmanuel College Toronto School of Theology in 1977. He was ordained a minister in the United Church of Canada on June 4, 1978, and is considered as a politician in the social gospel tradition of other prominent ministers in the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF, the NDP's predecessor) and NDP such as Tommy Douglas, J.S. Woodsworth and Stanley Knowles.
Blaikie was first elected to the House of Commons in the 1979 election, defeating incumbent Progressive Conservative MP Dean Whiteway. He has been re-elected in his Winnipeg riding in every election since then. His closest election was in the 1993 election, when he defeated Liberal candidate Art Miki by only 219 votes during a period of reduced popularity for his party. Between 1993 and 1997, he was the only New Democratic member of parliament to represent a riding east of Saskatchewan. He supported Simon de Jong's leadership campaign in 1989, and Lorne Nystrom's leadership campaign in 1995.
Blaikie himself was a candidate in the 2003 leadership election, and placed second to Jack Layton. As Layton was without a seat in Parliament he appointed Blaikie Parliamentary Leader, an appointment which led to his being sworn in as a member of the Privy Council. After the election of June 2004, Blaikie served as the NDP Defence Critic and Deputy Leader.
As Deputy Leader and as NDP Defence Critic, Blaikie was front and centre for the NDP in pushing the Liberals to not participate in the Iraq War, in opposing Canadian participation in Ballistic Missile Defence, and in asking critical questions about the rules of engagement and changing role of Canadian troops in Afghanistan.
In 2000 Blaikie played a key role in getting the NDP Caucus to support the Clarity Act after securing amendments to the legislation that were important to First Nations in Quebec. This put him at odds with many in his own Party including Layton, during the 2004 Federal election, but by the federal election of 2006, there was no more talk of rescinding the Clarity Act.
In the early 1980s, Blaikie was the NDP Health Critic and was instrumental in forcing then Minister of Health, Monique Begin, to bring in the Canada Health Act in 1984 to deal with the crisis that extra-billing by physicians and user fees were causing for medicare at the time. Begin, in a memoir, noted that Blaikie waged "guerilla warfare" against her in the Commons and forced her to act.
Blaikie is also known to be concerned about the prominent role given to "identity politics" in the modern Canadian left. While he holds socially liberal views on most issues and indeed voted for same-sex marriage in Canada, Blaikie, as one who was once referred to as a lunch bucket social democrat, is more at home addressing issues of economic justice for working class and low income Canadians.
As NDP International Trade Critic from 1993 to 2000 Blaikie was an outspoken critic of the corporate model of globalization, opposing the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) and calling for reform of the World Trade Organization to include enforceable core labour standards for member countries. He wrote the NDP Minority Report on the MAI, which was published in Dismantling Democracy, ed. Andrew Jackson and Matthew Sanger.
Blaikie's daughter Rebecca Blaikie stood for the NDP against Prime Minister Paul Martin in his constituency of LaSalle-Emard in Montreal in the 2004 election.
[edit] External links
- Official site
- How'd They Vote?: Bill Blaikie's voting history and quotes
- Political Biography from the Library of Parliament
| Preceded by: Chuck Strahl | Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons 2006–present | Succeeded by: Incumbent |
| Preceded by: formation of electoral district | Member of Parliament for Winnipeg—Birds Hill 1979–1988 | Succeeded by: abolition of electoral district |
| Preceded by: formation of electoral district | Member of Parliament for Elmwood—Transcona 1988–present | Succeeded by: incumbent |
| Preceded by: Charles Caccia | Dean of the House - Canadian House of Commons 2004–present | Succeeded by: incumbent |
| Image:Flag of Manitoba.svg | Manitoba Caucus serving in the 39th Canadian Parliament. |
| Senators | Sharon Carstairs (Lib), Maria Chaput (Lib), Janis Gudrun Johnson (Con), Mira Spivak (Ind), Terrance Richard Stratton (Con), Rod Zimmer (Lib) |
| Members of Parliament | Rod Bruinooge (Con), James Bezan (Con), Bill Blaikie (NDP), Tina Keeper (Lib), Steven Fletcher (Con), Inky Mark (Con), Pat Martin (NDP), Anita Neville (Lib), Brian Pallister (Con), Raymond Simard (Lib), Joy Smith (Con), Vic Toews (Con), Merv Tweed (Con), Judy Wasylycia-Leis (NDP) |
Categories: 1951 births | Living people | Canadian socialists | Scottish Canadians | Members of the Canadian House of Commons from Manitoba | New Democratic Party of Canada MPs | Members of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada | Canadian clergy | University of Winnipeg alumni | Ministers of the United Church of Canada | Current Members of the Canadian House of Commons
