Lawrence Cannon

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Hon. Lawrence Canon
Image:QUPontiacCannon.jpg
Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities
de facto Deputy Prime Minister
Incumbent
Riding Pontiac
In office since 2006 Federal Election
Preceded by David Smith
Born December 6, 1947
Quebec City, Quebec
Political party

Conservative
Profession(s) Businessman, communications consultant, political assistant

Lawrence Cannon, PC, MBA, BA, MP (born December 6, 1947) is a Canadian politician from Québec and Canada's de facto Deputy Prime Minister.

Cannon is the son of government lawyer Louis Cannon and Quebecois television broadcast pioneer Rosemary "Posie" Power, and the grand-nephew of Lawrence Arthur Dumoulin Cannon, a long-time Liberal politician and Supreme Court judge. He is of Irish descent.

The extended Cannon family has had strong regional and national political influence in Canada for over a century and is considered to be influential as one of Canada's hereditary ruling class families, members having served in positions as lawyers, judges, Supreme Court judges, senators, ministers of defence, solicitors general, Members of Parliament; and have had large influence in the national resource industries, as "barons" in the lumber industry particularly.

The most famous member of the Cannon family was Charles "Chubby" Power, a confidante and Minister of National Defence for Air to Prime Minister Mackenzie King. Power was Cannon's maternal grandfather.

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[edit] Early life

Cannon's father was francophone while his mother was anglophone. He was educated at French speaking public junior and high schools near Quebec City. Completely bilingual, Cannon is known for switching back and forth between French and English.

He graduated in political science from the Université de Montréal in 1971; and then worked for Liberal Premier Robert Bourassa as correspondence secretary, leaving in 1976 for higher academic studies. Cannon received an MBA from Université Laval in 1979. He worked then in private sector as a financial analyst for Société de développement industriel until 1981; and then as head of Les Radiateurs Roy ltée from September 1981, to December 1985.

Cannon then was elected in 1985 as a member of the National Assembly of Québec for the provincial riding of la Peltrie; and then held several cabinet level positions: notably as Minister of Foreign Trade and Technological Development, Tourism, and then Transport. In October 1990 to January 1994 he became minister for communications, and implemented the 911 emergency system as well as the Privacy Act within Quebec. Federally he became active in deeply supporting Sheila Copps (who as well later became Deputy Prime Minister of Canada) in her attempt to win the federal Liberal leadership, a contest won instead by Jean Chrétien, and then later by Paul Martin.

[edit] Private sector work

Cannon worked in private industry as vice-president of Unitel now AT&T Canada Corp. during the AT&T takeover of the Canadian firm; and in other concerns between 1994 and 2001 primarily in the field of information technologies. Cannon then remarried; and took an interest in Quebec local politics building a new constituency.

[edit] Constituency building in local politics

Cannon was elected as councillor for the city of Gatineau in 2001, representing Hull's Val-Tétreau neighbourhood, under mayor Yves Ducharme. He served as president of the Société de Transport de l'Outaouais from January 2002 to November 2005, while at the same time he was appointed president of the Association du transport urbain du Quebec. He had an especial sympathy for solving transport problems in Gatineau by road building rather than public transit approaches. During his mandate, the STO developed a BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) project called "Rapibus", which is still pending. His association and ownership of Groupe Cannon and Associates, a consulting company in telecommunications, has received little attention, and this ownership is expected to be put in a blind trust as is usual in federal politics.

[edit] Foreign policy initiatives

Cannon travelled extensively in Europe and the Americas both in and out of public life. In 2001, Cannon was appointed to the Board of the World Commerce Institute, and then as President and General Manager of AmeriContact for the Quebec City Summit of the Americas in Quebec City.

[edit] Present activities

Although Cannon's family has historically supported the federal Liberals, he switched to the Conservative Party of Canada in the early 21st century, presumably due to the sponsorship scandal. On September 16, 2005, he was named deputy chief of staff and deputy executive director of the Conservative Party. He was also named as Quebec lieutenant to party leader Stephen Harper.

He successfully ran as Conservative candidate in the riding of Pontiac in the 2006 federal election, beating Liberal David Smith. He gained a large amount of support among longtime Liberals in a riding once considered a Liberal stronghold. The Liberals had held the riding for all but nine years since 1935, and the Conservative candidate had finished a bad third in 2004.

On February 6, 2006, he was sworn in as Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. His portfolio includes Transport Canada, Infrastructure Canada, the Canadian Transportation Agency, the Transportation Appeal Tribunal of Canada and 16 Crown corporations [1].

Many pundits had predicted that Cannon would also be named Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, but Harper chose not to fill that office. However, Cannon is first on the list of ministers designated to fill in for Harper if he is unable to perform his duties, making him Deputy Prime Minister in fact if not in name. This was further emphasized when Cannon seconded the pro forma bill to start the first session of the 39th Canadian Parliament; the bill is introduced before the House takes the Speech from the Throne under consideration so as to maintain the right of the House to consider matters other than those directed to it by the crown. This bill is normally proposed by the Prime Minister and seconded by either the Deputy Prime Minister or the Government House Leader. [2]

Cannon is one of the higher-ranking Red Tories in the Harper cabinet. He is very liberal on social issues (for instance, he strongly supports same-sex marriage), but conservative on fiscal matters.

[edit] Reference

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

List of Canadian political families

28th Ministry - Government of Stephen Harper
Cabinet Post
Predecessor Office Successor
Jean Lapierre Minister of Transport
(2006–)
styled as
Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities		 incumbent
Preceded by:
David Smith		 Member of Parliament for Pontiac
2006-present		 Succeeded by:
incumbent
Preceded by:
Anne McLellan		 de facto Deputy Prime Minister of Canada
2006-present		 Succeeded by:
incumbent


Members of the current Canadian Cabinet Flag of Canada
Ambrose | Baird | Bernier | Blackburn | Cannon | Clement | Day | Emerson | Finley | Flaherty | Fortier | Harper | Hearn | LeBreton | Lunn | MacKay | Nicholson | O'Connor | Oda | Prentice | Skelton | Solberg | Strahl | Thompson | Toews | Van Loan | Verner
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