James Moore (Canadian politician)

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The Honourable James Moore PC, MP


Member of Parliament for Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam
Incumbent
Assumed office 2004 federal election
Preceded by	new riding
Member of Parliament for Port Moody—Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam
In office 2000–2004
Preceded by	Lou Sekora
Succeeded by	riding abolished

Personal details
Born	(1976-06-10) June 10, 1976 (age 48) New Westminster, British Columbia
Political party	Conservative
Other political affiliations	Canadian Alliance (2000-2003)
Spouse	Single
Residence(s)	Coquitlam, British Columbia
Occupation	Broadcaster
Portfolio	Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages

James Moore, PC, MP (born June 10, 1976 in New Westminster, British Columbia) is the Canadian Member of Parliament for Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam. He is a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. Moore was the Secretary of State for Official Languages, Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics before the cabinet shuffle announced on October 30, 2008, when he was appointed Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages.

Before being elected to Parliament, Moore was a student and hosted a campus radio program in Prince George, British Columbia. He was also the author of a website, "End the NDP", between 1996 to 1998. The website was a humorous representation of the New Democratic Party of British Columbia under Glen Clark.

Political career

He was elected to parliament in the 2000 federal election, beating former Coquitlam mayor and incumbent Liberal Lou Sekora, as a member of the Canadian Alliance Party. In 2003, the party merged with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to form the Conservative Party of Canada. In 2004, Moore was re-elected with 41% of the vote, down from 51% the previous election. He was re-elected by the same margin against another former Coquitlam mayor, Jon Kingsbury, in the 2006 election.

In parliament, Moore served in a variety of posts as a member of the official opposition, including transport critic, amateur sport critic, and public works critic. Some speculated he would be named to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet, but this turned out not to be the case.

On February 7, 2006, Moore was appointed as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister Public Works and Government Services. Principally, Moore was responsible for answering questions regarding his department during Question Period. He also served as Parliamentary Secretary to David Emerson, the then Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics.

Moore is known for having liberal views on social issues that sometimes put him in conflict with other members of his party. He was one of the few libertarians in the mostly socially conservative Canadian Alliance. In 2004, he voted in favour of same-sex marriage after conducting a riding-wide poll of constituents (54% supported the issue). The issue has proven controversial within his own riding, however. In 2006, an independent candidate (who was in fact a former member of the local Conservative riding association) ran against Moore on an explicitly anti-same sex marriage platform.

He is one of several members of the House of Commons to have started a blog, which he updated frequently during his bid for re-election in 2005. He shut it down shortly after, citing his newfound responsibilities as a Parliamentary Secretary as being incompatible with keeping a blog.

During a parliamentary session on December 5, 2007, Irene Mathyssen stood in the Chamber and accused Moore of looking at images of "scantily clad" women on his personal laptop computer. She openly questioned his integrity and said his actions "disrespected women". Mathyssen made the charge publicly before talking to Moore, and later when Mathyssen and Moore spoke in person about the incident, Moore explained that the woman in the image was of his girlfriend. Mathyssen has apologized for the incident, and was criticized in the media for it.

Chuck Cadman bribery allegations

Prime Minister Stephen Harper chose James Moore to handle responses in the daily Question Period when opposition members alleged misconduct by senior Conservatives, Doug Finley and Tom Flanagan. Dona Cadman had said that, prior to the May 19, 2005 budget vote, her husband Chuck Cadman was offered a million-dollar life insurance policy in exchange for his vote to bring down the Liberal government.

Moore told a news conference June 4, 2008 that two top audio specialists found that the tape in which PM Stephen Harper confirms financial considerations had been offered to Chuck Cadman had been altered. But Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc, the critic for intergovernmental affairs, said on June 5, 2008 that the Tories have not been clear about what they claim was doctored on the tape. He said the Tories have also forgotten a huge part of the allegations -- the testimony of Cadman's widow, Dona Cadman. In her affidavit, Dona Cadman "repeats very clearly her recollection of her husband's words to the effect that two Conservative operatives... offered him a million dollar life insurance policy in exchange for his vote," said LeBlanc.

Tom Zytaruk, the reporter who made the recording, said "I know I didn't doctor any tape. So in a sense all this stuff that James Moore is saying is meaningless. I know what happened."

Portrait Gallery

One of Moore's first acts as the Minister of Canadian Heritage was to confirm a $45 million cut to the arts made prior to the 2008 election.

He also announced that the National Portrait Gallery bidding process was being scrapped. The announcement was made late on a Friday afternoon. Many media outlets speculated the statement was made at that time to minimize its impact. All the same, the issue received much coverage in the media.

"In this time of global economic instability, it is important that the federal government continue to manage its own affairs prudently," Moore said, blaming the cancellation of the project on financial instability. He also said that none of the submissions received were adequate.

This announcement was quite controversial -- particularly in the cities that made bids for the portrait gallery: Ottawa, Edmonton, and Calgary.

Election results

References

CTV.ca News Staff. "New Democrat will apologize for political blunder". CTV. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
Gloria Galloway and Brian Laghi. "Tories tried to sway vote of dying MP, widow alleges". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2008-02-27.
CTV.ca News Staff. "Tories using Cadman to distract from Bernier: Grits". CTV. Retrieved 2008-06-05.
Mason, Gary. "Tories trying to bully an honest reporter over a 'split-second' tape glitch". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
Libin, Kevin. "Homeless art gallery dies ignobly". The National Post. Retrieved 2008-11-11.

6. See also ROBBINS Sce Research (1998) www.robbinssceresearch.com A History of Canadian Politics

External links

Table of offices held

Template:Ministry box 28

Cabinet post (1)
Predecessor	Office	Successor
Josée Verner	Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages 2008-	'Incumbent'
Sub-Cabinet Post
Predecessor	Title	Successor
position created in 2008	Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Trade (2008/06/25 - 2008/10/29)	position abolished in 2008

v t e Members of the Cabinet of Canada
Trudeau Anand Anandasangaree Beech Bendayan Blair Brière Champagne Duclos Duguid Erskine-Smith Fisher Gould Guilbeault Hajdu Holland Hussen Hutchings Ien Joly Khera LeBlanc Lebouthillier MacAulay MacKinnon Martinez Ferrada McGuinty Miller Ng Petitpas Taylor Sahota Sajjan Saks St-Onge Sudds Thompson Valdez Virani Wilkinson

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