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James Alexander Hart (born October 30, 1955) is a Canadian politician.
| This biographical article is written like a résumé .(May 2024) |
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2024) |
James Alexander Hart (born October 30, 1955) is a Canadian politician.
Hart was born in Edmonton, Alberta, was educated in Calgary and completed his military training at Canadian Forces Fleet School Halifax, CFB Borden and CFB Esquimalt. He served in the Canadian Forces twice, first for 5 years in the navy. After training as an Electrical Technician Hart served on 3 of Her Majesty's Canadian Ship's; (HMCS) Gatineau, Qu'Appelle and Yukon. Hart served an addition 5 years as a Canadian Armed Forces Reserve officer and Commanding Officer of the 902 Kiwanis Air Cadet Squadron. Mr. Hart completed his broadcasting training at the Columbia Academy of Radio and Television Arts in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1981. Hart has also studied at the Canadian Securities Institute, completing the Canadian Securities Course and the Ethics, Conduct and Practices Program. Prior to entering political life, Hart worked in the broadcasting industry as radio host, television host, account executive and radio station manager.
In 1988, Hart was elected to municipal government and served two terms as a Trustee. In 1989, he joined a new national political movement, the Reform Party of Canada, which became the Canadian Alliance in 2000.
Hart was first elected 1993 to represent the riding of Okanagan—Similkameen—Merritt, British Columbia, in the Canadian parliament. He was re-elected in 1997 in the new riding of Okanagan—Coquihalla.
In 1998, as a member of Canada's official opposition, he was elected by his peers as the Vice Chairman of the House Standing Committee of Defense and Veterans’ Affairs. As well, Hart was appointed as Chief Opposition Critic for a number of senior portfolios including Defense, Veterans’ Affairs, and Justice. He also served as an executive member on the Canada/Japan and NATO Parliamentary Associations. After publicly attacking Reform Party leader Preston Manning and accepting the Parliamentary Pension Plan, Hart briefly quit the Reform caucus before publicly apologizing to be accepted back into the caucus. [1]
In March 1996 Hart accused Jean-Marc Jacob, Member of Parliament for Charlesbourg, of sedition for a 1995 communique sent by him (Jacob) to members of the Armed Forces in Quebec concerning the October 30, 1995 separation referendum in that province. The Speaker ruled the matter prima facie , Mr. Hart moved a motion, which after debate was amended, and the House referred the matter to committee for study. See debates, March 12, 1996, pp. 557–67; March 13, 1996, pp. 648–74; March 14, 1996, pp. 680–703; March 18, 1996, pp 854–9. On June 18, 1996 the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs presented its Twenty-Ninth Report which found that although Mr. Jacobs actions were ill-advised, there was no contempt of the House. See Journals June 18, 1996, pp. 565–6; June 20, 1996, pp. 592–3 (House of Commons Procedure and Practice, Robert Marleau and Camille Montpetit ISBN 2-89461-378-4)
The communique urged Canadian Armed Forces personnel, along with equipment and military hardware to immediately join the new Quebec Armed Forces the day after a "yes" vote in the referendum. The referendum failed to win a majority.
Hart resigned as a Member of Parliament in order so that newly elected Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day could enter the House of Commons through a by-election. After the by-election, Hart received a severance payment of $50,000 from the Canadian Alliance, which prompted a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) inquiry. The Canadian Alliance maintained that the payment was made to cover lost income between the time of his resignation and the date of the next election, and was not an inducement.
The RCMP inquiry concluded that an investigation was not necessary and that neither Hart nor the Canadian Alliance had committed a criminal offence, and no charges were ever laid in the matter.
Since leaving Parliament, Hart started a Public and Government Relations business, with clients including the British Columbia Naturopathic Association, and continued to speak publicly about proposed changes to health care regulations in British Columbia.
In 2004 Hart moved to the Republic of Georgia and worked as a parliamentary adviser to H.E. Speaker Nino Burjanadze.
In 2005, Hart received an honorary doctorate from Georgian Technical University for his work in parliament and promoting democracy in Georgia.
In May 2008 the Harts returned to Georgia. Jim accepted the position of Dean, School of Governance at Caucasus University.
In the fall of 2008, Jim Hart was offered a position with Management Systems International (MSI) to work in Baghdad, Iraq as Senior Legislative Adviser on a multi-year contract to assist in strengthening the Council of Representatives (COR) Iraq's national parliament. Mr Hart accepted the position and in June 2009 he was promoted to the position of Chief of Party, heading the field operations and programming of the Iraq Legislative Strengthening Program (ILSP) a multimillion-dollar USAID development program.
Jim Hart has been in demand in the field of parliamentary development since 2004, he has managed parliamentary strengthening programs in the Republic of Georgia, Iraq, and Indonesia. In addition, Hart has been active with assignments observing elections in Ukraine, Georgia, and Afghanistan. The impressive list of clients includes international NGO's, USAID, OSCE and the European Union.
From July 2, 2013 to July 1, 2018 he served as a full-time member of the Pacific Regional Division of the Parole Board of Canada.
Stockwell Burt Day Jr. is a former Canadian politician who served as leader of the Canadian Alliance from 2000 to 2001 and later as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada.
The Canadian Alliance, a conservative political party in Canada, held two leadership elections to choose the party's leader. The first was held shortly after the party's founding in 2000, and the second was held in 2002. The party merged with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003 to form the Conservative Party of Canada.
Okanagan—Coquihalla was a federal electoral district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, that had been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1997 to 2015.
Kelowna—Lake Country is a federal electoral district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997.
British Columbia Southern Interior was a federal electoral district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, that had been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1997 to 2015.
Okanagan—Similkameen—Merritt was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 1997.
Yale-Lillooet was a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada.
Darrel Stinson is a retired politician and businessman in British Columbia, Canada. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Okanagan—Shuswap from 1993 until the dissolution of the House of Commons of Canada for the 2006 federal election, and was a member of the Conservative Party of Canada parliamentary caucus.
Neville Langrell "Bill" Barlee was a Canadian politician who was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia as a New Democrat in 1988. He served as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from 1991 until 1993 and then as Minister of Small Business, Tourism and Culture from 1993 until his defeat in the 1996 provincial election.
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Richard M. Harris is a Canadian politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1993 to 2015 and sat as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. He was previously member of the Reform Party of Canada and the Canadian Alliance. From 2004 to 2015, he represented the electoral district of Cariboo—Prince George, and formerly represented Prince George–Bulkley Valley. He was first elected during the 1993 federal election and was re-elected in 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2011. He challenged Reform Party leader Preston Manning for leadership when Manning proposed merging the party with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. He later campaigned for Stockwell Day to become leader. The most prominent position he held with his party was Chief Opposition Whip from 2001 to 2002. He generated controversy when he appointed an unelected, Conservative Party member to represent a neighbouring electoral district in governmental affairs, though the electoral district had an elected Member of Parliament, but from an opposition party. In Fiscal Year 2009-10 he was the top spending Member of Parliament, and had the largest hospitality and lowest advertising expenditures of any house member.
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Rick Thorpe is a Canadian politician. He was formerly a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of British Columbia, representing Okanagan-Penticton from 1996 to 2001, and Okanagan-Westside from 2001 to 2009. A caucus member of the British Columbia Liberal Party, he served in several cabinet posts under Premier Gordon Campbell.
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Ivan Charles Messmer was a Canadian politician, who represented the riding of Boundary-Similkameen in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1986 to 1991 as a member of the Social Credit Party. He held several roles in the Executive Council of British Columbia during his term as an MLA, including Minister of Parks and Solicitor General of British Columbia.
Dan Albas is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 2011 election. He represents the electoral district of Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola as a member of the Conservative Party. In the 41st Canadian Parliament, Albas was appointed to the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities and introduced one piece of legislation, a private members bill called An Act to amend the Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act which would allow individuals to import wine from another province for the purpose of personal consumption.
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