John Baird (Canadian politician)
John Baird (born May 26, 1969 in Ottawa, Ontario) is a Canadian politician. He is currently a member of the Ontario legislature, representing the riding of Nepean--Carleton for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. Baird is nicknamed "Rusty", a shortened version of his middle name.
Baird was President of the youth wing of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party in the late 1980s and supported Dennis Timbrell in his unsuccessful bids to lead the provincial party. He was educated at Queen's University, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1992. Prior to winning his first election in 1995, Baird worked on the political staff of Perrin Beatty first when he was federal Minister of National Defence and followed Beatty through subsequent cabinet shifts culminationg in becoming Secretary of State for External Affairs in the short lived government of Kim Campbell. Baird, at this time, was considered a moderate, even a Red Tory.
Between the defeat of the federal Tory government in November 1993 and his own election in June 1995, Baird used his political connections to work as a lobbyist in Ottawa. This has led to the criticism that, for a politician who advocates that individuals should not be dependent on government for a paycheck, Baird has spent his entire working life either receiving a paycheck from the government or receiving pay because of his connections to government and has never had a "real" job.
With his return to provincial politics after the defeat of the federal Tory government, Baird recast himself as a neo-conservative in accordance with the ideology of the Ontario Tories under Mike Harris who had become leader of the provincial party in 1990.
Baird was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 1995 representing Nepean. At the time, he was the youngest member of the Ontario Legislature. He joined the Cabinet of Premier Harris on June 17, 1999 as Minister of Community and Social Services where he became responsible for implementing the workfare program. As one of Harris' only bilingual ministers he also became Minister responsible for Francophone Affairs. At the time, he again made history as the youngest member of the Cabinet. On February 8, 2001, he was also given ministerial responsibility for Children.
In his capacity as Social Services Minister, Baird became notorious for a staged media event in which he removed a welfare cheque from a box filled with (sterilized) syringes, implying that many welfare recipients in Ontario were using government money to fund their drug habits. He was also the minister when the Community and Social Services department signed a $180 million contract with Accenture, then known as Andersen Consulting for a computer system that has subsequently cost the government over $500 million dollars due to system failures, as well as its failure to calculate an across the board 3% rate increase. Baird has denied any responsibility in the matter.
Baird supported Jim Flaherty's bid to succeed Harris in the 2002 Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership election. He was demoted to government whip (though still retaining ministerial responsibility for Francophone Affairs) on April 15, 2002 when Flaherty's rival, Ernie Eves, succeeded Harris. On August 22, 2002, he returned to prominence as Minister of Energy and government house leader. Baird survived the Liberal landslide in the 2003 Ontario election and sits with the Conservatives on the parliamentary opposition benches as the Conservative Health critic.
Baird is generally on the right wing of the party, having endorsed the federal Canadian Alliance before its merger with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. He is less conservative on social issues having expressed his public support for same-sex marriage during the 2003 Ontario election. Nevertheless, he supported social conservative Jim Flaherty's candidacy for party leader in 2002 and again in 2004.
There was some speculation that Baird would run for the Conservative Party of Canada in the Canadian election of 2004, but this did not come to pass. The Conservative Party is reportedly still trying to persuade Baird to leave provincial politics and run in the next federal election, expected in 2005 or 2006.
External link
- John Baird's official website (http://www.johnbaird.com/)