Bill Graham
William C. (Bill) Graham,
PC,
QC,
MP,
B.A.(Hon.),
LL.D,
D.U., (born
March 17,
1939, in
Montreal, Quebec) is
Canada's
Leader of the Opposition and the
interim leader of the
Liberal Party of Canada. He was variously
Minister of National Defence and
Minister of Foreign Affairs prior to the election of a
Conservative government.
Several days following the defeat of the Liberal government of
Paul Martin in the
2006 federal election, Graham was appointed
parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition. On March 18, 2006, following the party executive's acceptance of Martin's resignation as leader, Graham was officially appointed interim leader of the Liberal Party.[
1] Graham is expected to hold the position until the
Liberal leadership convention chooses Martin's permanent replacement on the weekend of
December 2-
3 2006. He has vowed not to run as a candidate himself.[
2]
Graham grew up in
Montreal and
Vancouver. He attended
Upper Canada College,
The University of Trinity College at the
University of Toronto, and the
University of Paris where he received his Doctorate in Law. While attending Trinity College, he served as XCVI, the 96th scribe of the Venerable Father
Episkopon. After some time in private practice, he became a professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto, teaching subjects such as International Trade Law. He has been a visiting lecturer at the
Université de Montréal and
McGill University.
Graham is married and has two children and three grandchildren.
He was first elected to the
Canadian House of Commons as
MP for the
riding of
Rosedale (now
Toronto Centre) in the
1993 federal election. He had previously run in the same riding in the
1988 federal election, coming within 80 votes of victory (it was the eighth closest result in the country). He was re-elected in the same riding in the
1997,
2000,
2004 and
2006 elections. Toronto Centre is one of the most diverse ridings in Canada, including wealthy neighbourhoods such as Rosedale and
Cabbagetown and public housing developments (Moss Park and
Regent Park).
Church and Wellesley, known in Toronto as the "gay-bourhood" or "gay village" is also in this riding.
In Parliament, Graham became a member and then the chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. He was appointed
Minister of Foreign Affairs in a
cabinet shuffle by
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in January 2002.
In December 2003, the new Prime Minister,
Paul Martin, appointed Graham to the same position in his cabinet. In the
cabinet shuffle that followed the 2004 election, Graham was moved to the Defence portfolio. He later made controversial remarks about Canada paying the price if it did not join the
missile defense program with the
United States.
He is interim
parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party (and thus,
Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons), while the party holds its leadership convention. Martin, however, announced he would remain leader of the Liberal Party until the convention [
3] but subsequently moved up the date of his resignation to
March 19,
2006, at which point Graham became the party's fully fledged interim leader.
Graham appointed former Cabinet colleague
Jane Stewart to serve as his chief of staff.[
4] Only weeks later, Stewart stepped down from the post due to family obligations. She was replaced by former cabinet minister
Andy Mitchell.
The University of Toronto Faculty of Law has established the William C. Graham Chair in International Law and Development.
Graham has the prenomial "The Honourable" and the postnomial "PC" for life by virture of being a member of the
Queen's Privy Council for Canada since 2002.
For his work in promoting
French language and culture in
Ontario (he is a past president of the
Alliance française of Toronto) he has received:
*Prix Jean-Baptiste Rousseaux
*Médaille d'argent de la ville de Paris (City of Paris Silver Medal)
*Gold Medal of the Alliance française
*Ordre du mérite de l'Association des juristes d'expression française de l'Ontario (Order of Merit of the Association of French-speaking Jurists of Ontario)
*Chevalier of the
Legion of Honour*Chevalier of the Ordre de la Pléiade
*
Political Biography from the Library of Parliament
