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PP RUEHGA RUEHHA RUEHQU RUEHVC
DE RUEHOT #0712/01 1491906
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 281906Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7925
INFO RUCNCAN/ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 000712 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR CA
SUBJECT: BIOGRAPHY OF NEW FOREIGN MINISTER DAVID EMERSON 
 
REF:  07 OTTAWA 0921 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary. PM Harper appointed Vancouver Member of Parliament 
David Emerson on May 26 as interim Foreign Minister, replacing 
Maxime Bernier.  Emerson will retain his existing ministerial 
portfolios of International Trade as well as the Pacific Gateway and 
the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics, in addition to chairmanship of two 
key Cabinet committees, including a new one on Afghanistan.  Emerson 
has a reputation as very smart, honest, yet low key, and has won 
wide respect for his integrity and consistent competence.  He 
appears to have extremely favorable views of the U.S., with special 
support for the North American Free Trade Agreement, despite some 
concerns about the border and softwood lumber.  While well suited 
for the Foreign Affairs job, he is unlikely to remain in place 
beyond a probable summertime larger Cabinet reshuffle.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Born on September 17, 1945 in Montreal, Quebec, David Emerson 
was raised in Grande Prairie, Alberta.  He earned a B.A. and M.A. in 
Economics from the University of Alberta, and a PhD in Economics 
from Queen's University in Ontario.  He became a researcher at the 
Economic Council of Canada in 1972.  In 1975, he joined British 
Columbia's provincial public service, where he rose to the level of 
Deputy Minister of Finance in 1984.  Thereafter, he moved back and 
forth between the senior levels of the provincial public service and 
executive positions in the private sector.  He was head of the 
Western and Pacific Bank of Canada in 1986, before returning to the 
provincial government as Deputy Minister of Finance in 1990, then as 
Deputy Minister to the Premier, and later as President of the B.C. 
Trade Development Corporation.  In 1992, he was appointed head of 
the newly-created Vancouver International Airport Authority, and in 
1998 became the President and CEO of Canfor Corporation, Canada's 
largest forestry company. 
 
¶3. (SBU) David Emerson originally entered politics as a "star" 
candidate for the federal Liberal Party in the urban riding of 
Vancouver Kingsway in the 2004 election and was immediately 
appointed Minister of Industry in the then-Liberal minority 
government of Prime Minister Paul Martin.  He was re-elected in 2006 
as a Liberal candidate, but -- much to the displeasure of his 
overwhelmingly Liberal constituents -- immediately "crossed the 
floor" to join the federal Conservative Party under Prime Minister 
Stephen Harper, who rewarded him with the  portfolios of Minister of 
International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the 
2010 Vancouver-Whistler Olympics. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Emerson's defection gave the Conservatives their only seat 
in Vancouver and the big-city Cabinet talent they lacked.  Widely 
acknowledged to be a policy-orientated rather than partisan 
politician, he defended his switch as the best way to serve British 
Columbia from a position of influence.  In particular, he expressed 
a strong desire to see the softwood lumber issue -- on which he had 
worked both as CEO of Canfor and then as Liberal Industry Minister 
-- to a successful conclusion, as well as to promote B.C.'s 
interests in the run-up to the 2010 Olympics.  Emerson was also the 
only member of the government with prior Cabinet experience at the 
federal level, as well as the only member of the current Cabinet to 
have run a major Canadian corporation. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Emerson has emerged as a major contributor around the 
Cabinet table, with a unique private and public sector skill-set. 
Insiders acknowledge he brings real-world business experience to 
bear on discussions and articulates a big-picture view of the trade 
Qbear on discussions and articulates a big-picture view of the trade 
and economic agenda that is extremely valuable, and which few of his 
Cabinet colleagues come close to matching (reftel).  In a sign of 
the trust PM Harper places in him, Emerson chairs both the new 
Cabinet Committee on Afghanistan -- Canada's premier foreign and 
defense policy priority -- and the Cabinet's Economic Growth and 
Long-Term Prosperity Committee.  He also sits on the Cabinet's 
Priorities and Planning Committee, the inner circle of Cabinet 
decision-making responsible for setting the government's strategic 
direction. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Emerson has reportedly indicated privately that he 
probably will not run in the next federal election, and would 
certainly not win re-election in his current Vancouver "riding," 
which has not forgiven him for changing parties.  However, if he 
wishes, the Conservatives would likely be willing to find him a 
safer seat in British Columbia.  Emerson and his current wife 
Theresa have two young children, and Emerson has three adult 
children from a previous marriage.  Emerson is a unilingual 
English-speaker. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment:  Emerson has a reputation both in British Columbia 
and in Ottawa as very smart, honest, yet low key, and has won wide 
respect for his integrity and consistent competence.  He appears to 
have extremely favorable views of the U.S., with special support for 
the North American Free Trade Agreement.  However, Emerson's own 
preference is probably to hold onto the Pacific Gateway and Olympics 
portfolio dear to his heart, and so Prime Minister Harper may have 
to seek some other senior Cabinet official to take over Foreign 
 
OTTAWA 00000712  002 OF 002 
 
 
Affairs at a likely mid-to-late summer Cabinet reshuffle involving 
several ministries.  As always, provincial balance will remain an 
important consideration, including finding a new prominent Cabinet 
profile (albeit probably not Foreign Affairs again) for another 
Conservative politician from Quebec. 
WILKINS