Michael Eizenga

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Michael Eizenga is the former National President of the Liberal Party of Canada, a post to which he was first elected in 2003 and vacated following the election of his successor Marie-Paule Poulin in 2006 at the 2006 Liberal convention. Professionally, he is a partner with the Ontario law firm Siskinds LLP and has served as the President of the Advocate's Society since 2006.

Eizenga's election to the national presidency of the Liberal Party of Canada was controversial, as he entered the race at the eleventh hour and was largely viewed as a pawn of then party leader Paul Martin, tasked to control the party's membership and suppress grassroots democratic activity.^[1]

Eizenga had previously served as Secretary-Treasurer of the Liberal Party of Canada between September 2002 and November 2003, a critical period during the events of the sponsorship scandal, and in 2004, he announced as president that the Liberal Party would return $1.1 million in illegal contributions that it had retained during his earlier tenure as Secretary-Treasurer.^[2]

Eizenga is also a past president of the Ontario Liberal Party and a Protestant clergyman.

Over more than 20 years in Liberal politics, Eizenga has been involved from the riding level through increasingly senior positions, including financial management, fundraising, policy development and constitutional affairs. He managed several local campaigns in London and served on the Ontario campaign committee for the 1993 and 1997 federal elections.

It was reported in the October 25 London Free Press that Eizenga might run in the by-election for the riding of London North Centre to be held on November 27, 2006. [1]. However, he later announced he would not be seeking the nomination.