BIOGRAPHY OF NEW FOREIGN MINISTER DAVID EMERSON

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