|
| Affiliation | Liberal |
|
| Name | Brian Tobin |
| Address |
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador , Canada |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
October 21, 1954 |
| Died |
Still Living
(70 years) |
| Contributor | User 13 |
| Last Modifed | Monsieur
Dec 26, 2006 07:51pm |
| Tags |
|
| Info | Brian Vincent Tobin
Hon. Brian Tobin, PC is a Canadian politician.
Tobin studied political science at Memorial University in St. John's. He worked a brief stint as a TV news announcer before joining the Liberal Party as an aide.
First elected to the House of Commons as a Liberal in 1980, Tobin became familiar to Canadians in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a member of the so-called opposition "Rat Pack".
Following the 1993 federal election in which the Liberals regained power from the Progressive Conservatives after almost a decade in opposition, Tobin was appointed Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.
In the ministry, Tobin distinguished himself from his colleagues with speeches rife with rhetoric and his youthful exuberance. Throughout 1994 he mounted a fierce campaign against foreign over-fishing of waters on the nose and tail of the Grand Banks, located just outside Canada's declared 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). People across Canada took notice of this new and aggressive posture, a position that had not been taken by a federal minister since the EEZ was declared in 1977.
Critics note that Tobin was likely doing this to preserve his political life in his home province. At this point, Newfoundland and Labrador was wracked by rapidly rising unemployment and social unrest over the fiscal situation which many believed had been caused by federal mismanagement of foreign and domestic overfishing. In April 1995, Tobin's department was embroiled in the so-called "Turbot War" which pitted Canada against the European Union. Later that month, Tobin conducted an international news conference from a barge on the East River outside the United Nations headquarters and dramatically displayed an illegal trawl net that had been cut from a Spanish trawler which was arrested outside the Canadian EEZ.
Tobin helped organize a pro-Canada rally in Montreal before the October 1995 Quebec referendum — bussing in thousands of university students and other residents from English Canada, thus earning him the nickname of "Captain Canada" in a partial nod to his role in the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
In 1996, Tobin resigned from federal politics to pursue the leadership of the Liberal Party of Newfoundland after the resignation of Premier Clyde Wells. Tobin won handily and as Premier of Newfoundland, presided over the province during an unprecedented economic boom brought on by offshore oil and gas exploration and development, as well as the discovery of one of the world's largest nickel deposits at Voisey's Bay. Tobin pursued tough negotiations with out-of-province companies seeking to export the resource for refining and smelting elsewhere.
In the fall of 2000, Tobin suddenly resigned to join the federal Cabinet and run for re-election to the House of Commons in a snap election called by Jean Chrétien. Chretien appointed his friend the powerful position of Minister of Industry before the election and Tobin was easily elected in the riding of Bonavista—Trinity—Conception. His departure from the premiership caused speculation among Canadians about his aspirations for the leadership of the federal Liberals following what was assumed would be Chrétien's final term as prime minister. Tobin's position in Industry would allow him to develop a relationship with the nation's business leaders. In the winter of 2002, Tobin resigned and left federal politics completely in what was interpreted to be frustration at the stranglehold on the future leadership of the party by Minister of Finance Paul Martin.
In retirement from politics, Tobin has served on the board of several Canadian corporations, and became CEO of Magna International Developments, controller of Magna's vast real estate and horse track holdings. He left in a dispute over the propriety of a share buy-back program. He has authored his suggestively-named auto-biography entitled All In Good Time.
With the defeat of the Liberals in the 2006 Canadian federal election, Prime Minister Martin announced his intention to resign the party leadership. On January 31, 2006 Tobin officially announced that he would not run for the federal Liberal leadership.
|
|
 |
| Date | Firm | Approve | Disapprove | Don't Know |
 | BOOKS |
 |
|
| Title |
Purchase |
Contributor |
|
| INFORMATION LINKS |
|
|
|
