Joe Oliver (politician)

Joseph "Joe" Oliver PC (born May 20, 1940) is a Canadian politician and the former Minister of Finance. He was elected to the House of Commons in the 2011 federal election and represented the electoral district of Eglinton—Lawrence as a member of the Conservative Party until his defeat in the 2015 election. In April 2016, Oliver has been appointed chairman of the advisory board at Origin Merchant Partners, a Toronto-based independent investment bank.

Oliver was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, to a Jewish family. His father was a dentist and his mother was a teacher. He grew up attending Congregation Shaar Hashomayim. He is currently married to Golda Goldman and has two sons, David and Jeffrey.

Oliver received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1961 and a Bachelor of Civil Law degree in 1964 from McGill University. He received a MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1970.

Following his studies he became an investment banker with Merrill Lynch and then Nesbitt Thomson. He became executive director of the Ontario Securities Commission and was also named the CEO of the Investment Dealers Association of Canada.

He ran in the 2008 election, but lost in a close race to the longtime Liberal incumbent, Joe Volpe. In the 2011 election, he defeated Volpe to win the seat.

Minister of Natural Resources

On May 18, 2011, Oliver was sworn in as the Minister of Natural Resources. In June 2011, Oliver repeated Harper's campaign promise to support Quebec's asbestos industry, by claiming that chrysotile asbestos, a carcinogen, could be used safely. As Natural Resources Minister, Oliver also oversaw SNC-Lavalin's purchase of Atomic Energy of Canada. Oliver has also defended pipeline projects for Canada's oil sands such as Keystone XL and the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines. In a January 2012 open letter defending Keystone XL Oliver called Canadians who opposed the project "radicals" who “use funding from foreign special interest groups to undermine Canada’s national economic interest.” During his time as natural resources minister, the ministry's advertising budget grew from $237,000 in 2010-11 to $40 million in 2012-13. Also under Oliver, the regulatory checks on the energy industry's super-projects such as Keystone were streamlined.

Minister of Finance

On March 19, 2014, Oliver was appointed to replace Jim Flaherty as Minister of Finance. In January 2015, Oliver announced that the budget would not be tabled until April, instead of the usual February to March, because of economic uncertainty caused by the rapid drop in oil prices. On April 21, 2015, Oliver presented the federal budget, which projected a $1.4 billion surplus by taking $2 billion from the country's contingency fund.

During the 2015 Canadian federal election, Canada was officially declared to be in a recession and fellow cabinet minister Jason Kenney, who unlike Oliver, was running in a safe riding, was the primary Conservative spokesperson on the economy. Meanwhile, Oliver kept a low profile: he cancelled two speaking events at men's only clubs in Toronto, discreetly attended a G20 conference in Turkey, and focused on winning his riding.

Attempted political comeback

Oliver announced in October 2016 that he was seeking the nomination for Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario in York Centre for the next provincial election, expected in 2018. The riding is currently held by Liberal Monte Kwinter On January 15, 2017, Oliver lost the nomination to 36 year-old Roman Baber by a margin of 711 to 465 votes.

Source: Elections Canada