David Turnbull

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the Canadian politician. For the British abolitionist, see David Turnbull (British abolitionist).

David Turnbull (born March 17, 1942 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 2003, and ran unsuccessfully for the Conservative Party of Canada in the federal election of 2004.

Turnbull was educated at the Edinburgh College of Domestic Sciences, and worked as a hotel manager in Scotland, Switzerland and Germany. Upon moving to Canada, he continued his education at the Canadian Institute of Management. Before entering public life, he served as a manager for Xerox Canada Ltd. and as President of Turnbull Luetolf Ltd. He also became involved in conservative citizen's groups, including the Ratepayers' Association and the Citizens for Property Tax Reform.

Turnbull was first elected to the provincial legislature in the 1990 provincial election, defeating incumbent Liberal Brad Nixon by about 3,000 votes in the North York riding of York Mills. The election was won by the New Democratic Party, and Turnbull sat in the opposition benches for the next five years.

The Tories won a majority government in the provincial election of 1995, and Turnbull was re-elected by more than 11,000 votes over his nearest opponent. He was appointed Government Whip in 1995, and retained this position on being named a Minister without Portfolio in Mike Harris's government on October 10, 1997. Turnbull supported Mel Lastman's successful bid to become Mayor of Toronto in late 1997.

The Harris Tories lost a number of Toronto-area seats in the provincial election of 1999. Although he was re-elected, Turnbull's majority in the redistributed Don Valley West riding was significantly cut, as he outpolled Liberal Paul Davidson by just over 3,000 votes.

On June 17, 1999, Turnbull was promoted to Minister of Transportation, and on February 8, 2001, was named to the position of Solicitor General. In the latter capacity, he was responsible for creating the province's first Sex Offender Registry.

When Ernie Eves succeeded Harris as Premier on April 15, 2002, he named Turnbull as his Associate Minister of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation. Turnbull held this position until the defeat of the Eves government in the 2003 provincial election.

Turnbull was among the Tory incumbents defeated in the 2003 election, falling to Liberal candidate Kathleen Wynne by over 6,000 votes. He sought election to Canadian House of Commons for the federal Don Valley West riding the following year, but was defeated by Liberal incumbent John Godfrey.

[edit] External links

Provincial Government of Ernie Eves
Cabinet Posts (2)
Predecessor	Office	Successor
Tony Clement	Minister of Transportation (1999-2001)	Norm Sterling
	Associate Minister of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation (2002–2003)