Bill Graham

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**Hon. William C. (Bill) Graham**

Rank:	36th Leader of the Official Opposition
Terms of Office:	February 7, 2006–
Predecessor:	Stephen Harper
Successor:	incumbent
Birth:	March 17, 1939
Place of Birth:	Montreal, Quebec
Spouse:	Catherine Graham
Profession:	Law professor
Political Party:	Liberal
Religion:	Anglican

William C. (Bill) Graham, PC, QC, MP, B.A.(Hon.), LL.D, D.U., (born March 17, 1939, in Montreal, Quebec) is Canada's Leader of the Opposition and the interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. He was variously Minister of National Defence and Minister of Foreign Affairs prior to the election of a Conservative government.

Several days following the defeat of the Liberal government of Paul Martin in the 2006 federal election, Graham was appointed parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition. On March 18, 2006, following the party executive's acceptance of Martin's resignation as leader, Graham was officially appointed interim leader of the Liberal Party.[link] Graham is expected to hold the position until the Liberal leadership convention chooses Martin's permanent replacement on the weekend of December 2-3 2006. He has vowed not to run as a candidate himself.[link]

Contents

1 Personal life
2 Political life
3 Honours
4 External links

Personal life

Graham grew up in Montreal and Vancouver. He attended Upper Canada College, The University of Trinity College at the University of Toronto, and the University of Paris where he received his Doctorate in Law. While attending Trinity College, he served as XCVI, the 96th scribe of the Venerable Father Episkopon. After some time in private practice, he became a professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto, teaching subjects such as International Trade Law. He has been a visiting lecturer at the Université de Montréal and McGill University.

Graham is married and has two children and three grandchildren.

Political life

He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons as MP for the riding of Rosedale (now Toronto Centre) in the 1993 federal election. He had previously run in the same riding in the 1988 federal election, coming within 80 votes of victory (it was the eighth closest result in the country). He was re-elected in the same riding in the 1997, 2000, 2004 and 2006 elections. Toronto Centre is one of the most diverse ridings in Canada, including wealthy neighbourhoods such as Rosedale and Cabbagetown and public housing developments (Moss Park and Regent Park). Church and Wellesley, known in Toronto as the "gay-bourhood" or "gay village" is also in this riding.

In Parliament, Graham became a member and then the chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. He was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in a cabinet shuffle by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in January 2002.

In December 2003, the new Prime Minister, Paul Martin, appointed Graham to the same position in his cabinet. In the cabinet shuffle that followed the 2004 election, Graham was moved to the Defence portfolio. He later made controversal remarks about Canada paying the price if it did not join the missile defense program with the United States.

He is interim parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party (and thus, Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons), while the party holds its leadership convention. Martin, however, announced he would remain leader of the Liberal Party until the convention [link] but subsequently moved up the date of his resignation to March 19, 2006, at which point Graham became the party's fully fledged interim leader.

Graham appointed former Cabinet colleague Jane Stewart to serve as his chief of staff.[link] Only weeks later, Stewart stepped down from the post due to family obligations. She was replaced by former cabinet minister Andy Mitchell.

Honours

The University of Toronto Faculty of Law has established the William C. Graham Chair in International Law and Development.

Graham has the prenomial "The Honourable" and the postnomial "PC" for life by virture of being a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada since 2002.

For his work in promoting French language and culture in Ontario (he is a past president of the Alliance française of Toronto) he has received:

Prix Jean-Baptiste Rousseaux
Médaille d'argent de la ville de Paris (City of Paris Silver Medal)
Gold Medal of the Alliance française
Ordre du mérite de l'Association des juristes d'expression française de l'Ontario (Order of Merit of the Association of French-speaking Jurists of Ontario)
Chevalier of the Legion of Honour
Chevalier of the Ordre de la Pléiade

External links

[Political Biography from the Library of Parliament]

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