Gordon Campbell

Gordon Muir Campbell ( born January 12, 1948 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Canadian politician and urban planner. Of 5 June 2001 to 14 March 2011 he was the Prime Minister of the Province of British Columbia. Campbell from 1993 to 2011 Chairman of the British Columbia Liberal Party and represents the constituency since 1994 Vancouver - Point Grey in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. Previously, he was from 1986 to 1993 mayor of the city of Vancouver.

Youth and studies

Campbell was born into a wealthy family from Vancouver. When he was 13 years old, his father committed suicide. The mother then had to raise their four children alone. Campbell attended the University Hill Secondary School in Vancouver, where he was president of the student council. After high school, he received the prestigious Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire a scholarship and studied urban planning. He also received a Bachelor of Arts in English.

1970 Campbell married in New Westminster Nancy Chipperfield. As part of an exchange program of development aid organization CUSO (Canadian University Students Overseas) he went with his wife to Nigeria, where he taught for two years at a school. After his return in 1972, he wanted to study law at the University of British Columbia, gave this project but soon. Instead, he supported the election campaign of sorts Phillips, who successfully ran for mayor of Vancouver. Until 1976 he remained Philipps ' assistant. Subsequently, Campbell worked as a project manager for the real estate company Marathon Realty and founded the City Core Development Corporation. In 1978 he graduated from the Simon Fraser University a Master of Business Administration.

Municipal and provincial policy

1984 Campbell was elected as representatives of the local party Non -Partisan Association in the city council of Vancouver. From 1986 to 1993 he was mayor of the city. During his tenure, the Expo 86 to the transformation of the World Expo site in a high-density residential zone (the largest urban development project in the history of the city) and the construction of the new main building of the Vancouver Public Library. In addition, Campbell was President of the Council of the Greater Vancouver Regional District and president of the Association of Municipalities of British Columbia.

The British Columbia Liberal Party chose Campbell as its chairman in 1993, where he prevailed over the incumbent Gordon Wilson, who had lost the confidence of the party base. With the victory at a by-election in District Vancouver Quilchema he conquered in 1994 a seat in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. In the elections on 28 May 1996 Campbell successfully ran in the constituency Vancouver - Point Grey. While the Liberal Party achieved a slightly higher share of the vote as the ruling social democratic British Columbia New Democratic Party (NDP ), but received six fewer seats. Campbell remained the official opposition leader.

Run by Glen Clark NDP government had to contend with numerous controversies and difficult economic and financial conditions. Clark's successor, Dan Miller and Ujjal Dosanjh could not stop the loss of popularity of their party. In the elections of May 16, 2001 the Liberals celebrated an overwhelming victory: With a vote share of 57.62 %, they won 77 of 79 seats. Campbell resigned on June 5 at the Office of the Prime Minister.

Prime minister

One day after taking office fulfilled Campbell one of his campaign promises: He lowered the income tax by a quarter and abolished the tax on capital for companies. To achieve a balanced budget balance, the government pursued a strict austerity. She built from social, reduced the administrative apparatus and privatized the state-owned railway company British Columbia Railway. However, the government increased spending in education and public health.

In January 2003, Campbell was staying on Maui on vacation. There he was briefly arrested for driving in a drunken state and sentenced to a fine. The police of the state of Hawaii released a file photo ( mug shot ), the political opponents later used again and again to expose Campbell publicly. The organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving demanded his resignation.

The government introduced a fixed date for the elections of the Provincial Parliament. This means that the Prime Minister no longer require to be arisen from the British tradition right to determine the election date at its discretion, within a specified period. In the elections on 17 May 2005, the share of the vote of the Liberals dropped to 45.8 %, but even so 46 seats, still the majority. On the same day a referendum failed to suffrage amendment: Although 57.7 % of polling parties spoke in favor of the abolition of the relative majority voting and the introduction of the transferable Einzelstimmgebung from, but this was below the required 60 %, which the government had previously set as a condition. A further referendum in 2009 also failed.

Campbell's second term as Prime Minister was initially characterized by an economic upswing. The unemployment rate fell in the spring of 2007 to 4.0%, its lowest level in 30 years and 6 % less than in 2001, but doubled within a year. The elections on 12 May 2009 provided almost the same result as four years earlier: the share of the vote was practically the same, and due to the increase of the Parliament resulted in three seat gains. In July 2009, the provincial government said it would soon be the two-stage value-added tax (5% at the federal level, 7% at the provincial level ) replace it with a flat tax of 12%. This project met with the opposition, the media and the majority of the population rejected because it means that some product areas, a tax increase is inevitable. The Liberal Party lost in the polls massively in popularity. In June 2010, Energy Minister Blair fault leak resigned to protest against the unit tax.

On 3 November 2010 Campbell was considering ongoing protests and low approval ratings in opinion polls announced that he would resign as Prime Minister and party leader once the party have appointed his successor. On March 14, 2011 Christy Clark succeeded him.

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