Ralph Goodale

The Honourable Ralph Goodale PC MP
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Incumbent
Assumed office November 4, 2015
Prime Minister	Justin Trudeau
Preceded by	Steven Blaney
Minister of Finance
In office December 11, 2003 – February 6, 2006
Prime Minister	Paul Martin
Preceded by	John Manley
Succeeded by	Jim Flaherty
Minister of Public Works and Government Services
In office May 26, 2002 – December 11, 2003
Prime Minister	Jean Chretien
Preceded by	Don Boudria
Succeeded by	Stephen Owen
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Regina—Wascana
Incumbent
Assumed office October 19, 2015
Preceded by	Constituency reestablished
In office October 25, 1993 – June 2, 1997
Preceded by	Larry Schneider
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Wascana
In office June 2, 1997 – October 19, 2015
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Member of the Legislative Assembly for Assiniboia-Gravelbourg
In office 1986–1988
Preceded by	Allen Engel
Succeeded by	Jack Wolfe
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Assiniboia
In office July 8, 1974 – May 22, 1979
Preceded by	Bill Knight
Succeeded by	Leonard Gustafson
Personal details
Born	Ralph Edward Goodale October 5, 1949 Regina, Canada
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Pam Goodale
Alma mater	University of Regina University of Saskatchewan
Religion	Lutheranism

Ralph Edward Goodale, PC MP (born October 5, 1949) is Canada's Minister of Public Safety in the present Cabinet, headed by Justin Trudeau. He was Canada's Minister of Finance from 2003 to 2006, and leader of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party from 1981 to 1988. He has been the Liberal Member of Parliament for Regina-Wascana since 1993 (known as simply Wascana from 1997 to 2015), having previously served as the member for Assiniboia from 1974 to 1979. He was named Opposition House Leader by interim Liberal leader Bill Graham in 2006, and continued to serve in this role under the leadership of Stéphane Dion and Michael Ignatieff until September 2010 when he was promoted to Deputy Leader—a post he retained under Trudeau.

Early life

Goodale was born in Regina, Saskatchewan and raised on a farm near Wilcox, Saskatchewan. He was a member of Scouts Canada and earned the rank of Queen's Scout.^[1] He first attended the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus and then obtained a law degree from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, where he was awarded the Gold Medal for academic achievement.

Federal politics, 1974-1979

Active at politics from a young age, he was first elected to the Parliament of Canada in the 1974 election at the age of 24 from the seat of Assiniboia. He served as a government backbencher until the 1979 election, when he was defeated.

Provincial politics

In 1981, Goodale was named leader of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party.

He led that party to a very poor showing in the 1982 provincial election, in which the party received 4.51% of the popular vote and won no seats in the provincial legislature. However, Goodale was the only Liberal candidate to receive more than 1,000 votes.^[2]

The party won 9.99% of the vote in the 1986 provincial election, but only Goodale was elected to the legislature. Goodale ran on a platform of fiscal responsibility in this election, arguing that both the Progressive Conservative and New Democrat (NDP) parties favoured excessive spending policies, typified by their proposals for a Keynesian-style stimulation of the provincial economy through subsidized home improvement and renovation schemes.

Return to federal politics

Defeated in 1988 election

Goodale resigned as leader to run for the federal Liberals in the 1988 election for the seat of Regina—Wascana, but he was narrowly defeated by former Regina mayor Larry Schneider, who later went on to serve briefly in Kim Campbell's cabinet. Beginning earlier that year and prior to his resignation, Goodale's executive assistant was Jason Kenney. Kenney would become a Conservative Party of Canada MP in a Calgary riding.

Goodale then spent five years in the private sector, working for companies such as the Pioneer Life Assurance Company, Pioneer Lifeco Inc., and Sovereign Life Insurance Co.; he has stated in interviews that he felt his political career had ended.

In government, 1993-2006

Goodale in 2004.

Goodale contested Regina-Wascana again in the 1993 federal election and was elected as part of the Liberals' massive landslide that year. As a member of the new Chrétien cabinet, Goodale was named Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. He has the prenominal "the Honourable" and the postnominal "PC" for life by virtue of being made a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada on November 4, 1993.^[3] He has been reelected for this riding, known as Wascana from 1997 to 2015, at every election since then.

In 1997, he became the Minister of Natural Resources. In 2002, he was named Minister of Public Works and Government Services. The Department of Public Works and Government Services had been plagued by scandals.

A close ally of Paul Martin, Goodale was appointed to the senior portfolio of Finance Minister when Martin became Prime Minister on December 12, 2003. In that capacity he tabled two consecutive balanced budgets and launched the Government's productivity agenda.

On December 28, 2005, a letter surfaced from Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli confirming the force was launching a criminal investigation into whether details regarding government tax policies relating to income trust funds were leaked from the Finance Minister's office. Goodale said he would co-operate completely with any investigation, but would not step aside while the RCMP continued their probe. The investigation deals only with the Department of Finance, and not the minister himself.^[4] On February 15, 2007 the RCMP announced the conclusion of the income trust investigation and laid a charge of 'Breach of Trust' against Serge Nadeau, an official in the Department of Finance.^[5] Goodale was cleared of any wrongdoing.^[6] Goodale blamed the NDP's Judy Wasylycia-Leis for sabotaging the Liberals in the 2006 election.^[7]

In opposition, 2006-2015

Goodale won re-election to the House of Commons in the general election on January 23, 2006, but lost his cabinet position with the Liberal defeat.

2006 Liberal Party leadership election

After the Liberals' defeat, and Paul Martin's election night announcement that he would be resigning as party leader, Goodale initially indicated that he was not interested in succeeding Martin in that post. "I do not anticipate ever having to cross that bridge," he said. "I rule it out."^[8] On March 16, 2006, however, the Toronto Star reported that Goodale was reconsidering his decision, and stated that he may enter the Liberal leadership election after all.^[9] In the end he declined, citing his inability to speak French as a key reason. On November 28, 2006, he endorsed Bob Rae to be the next leader of the Liberal Party.^[10] After the third ballot, Bob Rae, who finished third, was eliminated. Goodale then endorsed Stéphane Dion, the eventual winner.

Goodale was opposed to David Orchard's candidacy in the by-election for Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River.^[11] Dion terminated the nomination contest and appointed Joan Beatty as the candidate.

Proposed coalition government, 2008

In November 2008, the three opposition parties in the Canadian parliament indicated their intention to defeat the Stephen Harper government in a motion of no confidence, and expressed their desire for Governor General Michaëlle Jean to ask a member of the opposition to form a new government. There was initially some speculation that Goodale would become Prime Minister of Canada as leader of the proposed coalition government.^[12] However, the coalition agreement simply made "the leader of the Liberal Party" Prime Minister, and the Liberals agreed shortly after that Stéphane Dion would lead the government on an interim basis until a new Liberal leader was chosen.^[13] In the end, parliament was prorogued by Jean at the request of the prime minister before a confidence vote could be put to the house. By the time parliament resumed in January 2009, Michael Ignatieff had become interim leader of the party. He did not seek to bring down the government and agreed to support Harper's budget with amendments.

2011 election

Goodale was one of the 34 Liberal MPs who was returned in the 2011 federal election.

The NDP surpassed the Liberals in number of seats, becoming the official opposition, resulted in priority in choosing parliamentary offices. They requested that Goodale forfeit his suite in the coveted Central Block. The Liberals saw this as a measure of disrespect to Goodale, noting that he had seniority as a former cabinet minister and house leader, despite this being standard practice and noting the Conservatives had not asked any Liberals to give up their offices.^[7]

In government, 2015-present

The Liberals won a majority government in the 2015 federal election, and Goodale was re-elected to a ninth term in the House of Commons, once again representing Regina—Wascana as a consequence of redistricting. He was named Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.^[14] He is the only MP to serve in government with both Pierre and Justin Trudeau.^[15]

Next-in-line

An order in council on November 4, 2015,^[16] places Goodale as first in line to assume the prime minister's powers & duties as acting prime minister, should Prime Minister Justin Trudeau become incapacitated. Trudeau did not appoint a deputy prime minister.

Electoral record

Regina—Wascana

Canadian federal election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Ralph Goodale	23,552	55.13	+13.37	–
	Conservative	Michael Kram	12,931	30.27	-5.44	–
	New Democratic	April Bourgeois	5,362	12.55	-7.53	–
	Green	Frances Simonson	878	2.06	-0.4	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			42,723	100.0		$191,756.36
Total rejected ballots			176	–	–
Turnout			42,889	75.4	–
Eligible voters			56,656

Canadian federal election, 2011
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Liberal	(x) Ralph Goodale	15,823	40.8	-5.2	$65,366
	Conservative	Ian Shields	14,291	36.9	+2.3	$74,976
	New Democratic	Marc Spooner	7,681	19.8	+5.1	$25,821
	Green	Bill Clary	954	2.5	-2.1	$755
Total valid votes			38,749	100.0	–
Total rejected ballots			106	0.3	0.0
Turnout			38,855	68.1	+3.9
Eligible voters			57,034	–	–

Canadian federal election, 2008
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Liberal	(x) Ralph Goodale	17,028	46.0	-5.7	$66,057
	Conservative	Michelle Hunter	12,798	34.6	+4.4	$66,686
	New Democratic	Stephen Moore	5,418	14.7	+0.2	$19,393
	Green	George Wooldridge	1,706	4.6	+1.1	$4,204
Total valid votes/Expense limit			36,950	100.0	$77,030
Total rejected ballots			121	0.3	+0.1
Turnout			37,071	64.2	-6

Canadian federal election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Liberal	(x) Ralph Goodale	20,666	51.8	-5.4	$66,648
	Conservative	Brad Farquhar	11,990	30.0	+5.8	$67,579
	New Democratic	Helen Yum	5,880	14.7	-1.3	$30,123
	Green	Nigel Taylor	1,378	3.5	+0.9	$1,653
Total valid votes			39,914	100.0
Total rejected ballots			94	0.2	0.0
Turnout			40,008	70	+7

Canadian federal election, 2004
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Liberal	(x) Ralph Goodale	20,567	57.2	+16.0	$43,226
	Conservative	Doug Cryer	8,709	24.2	-11.9	$57,802
	New Democratic	Erin M.K. Weir	5,771	16.0	-5.5	$29,783
	Green	Darcy Robilliard	928	2.6
Total valid votes			35,975	100.0
Total rejected ballots			80	0.2	-0.1
Turnout			36,055	63.1	+0.9

Canadian federal election, 2000
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Liberal	(x) Ralph Goodale	14,244	41.2	-0.7	$56,685
	Alliance	James Rybchuk	12,492	36.1	+7.2	$59,667
	New Democratic	Garth Ormiston	7,446	21.5	-6.8	$58,098
	Canadian Action	Wayne Gilmer	401	1.2	+0.4	$1,619
Total valid votes			34,583	100.0
Total rejected ballots			98	0.3	-0.1
Turnout			34,681	62.3	-4.0

Canadian federal election, 1997
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%	Expenditures
	Liberal	(x) Ralph Goodale	14,077	41.9	-2.4	$54,021
	New Democratic	John Burton	9,530	28.4	+7.2	$37,942
	Reform	Glen Blager	7,261	21.6	+5.9	$39,285
	Progressive Conservative	Michael Morris	2,477	7.4	-8.4	$18,266
	Canadian Action	Walter P. Sigda	264	0.8	–	$1,822
Total valid votes			33,609	100.0
Total rejected ballots			136	0.4
Turnout			33,745	66.2

Canadian federal election, 1993
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	∆%
	Liberal	(x) Ralph Goodale	19,555	44.3	+11.5
	New Democratic	Donna Shire	9,323	21.1	-11.8
	Progressive Conservative	Larry Schneider	6,943	15.7	-18.3
	Reform	Andrew Jackson	6,935	15.7	–
	National	John Keen	734	1.7	–
	Natural Law	C. Angus Hunt	228	0.5	–
	Christian Heritage	Hugh Owens	192	0.4	–
	Independent	Barry James Farr	185	0.4	–
	Canada Party	Walter P. Sigda	64	0.1	–
Total valid votes			44,159	100.0

Canadian federal election, 1988
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Progressive Conservative	(x) Larry Schneider	15,339	34.0
	New Democratic	Dickson Bailey	14,829	32.9
	Liberal	Ralph Goodale	14,804	32.8
	Communist	Kimball Cariou	76	0.2
	Libertarian	Ian Christopher Madsen	65	0.1
Total valid votes			45,113	100.0

Assiniboia-Gravelbourg

Saskatchewan General Election 1986: Assiniboia-Gravelbourg
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Ralph Edward Goodale	3,246	41.01	+8.66
	New Democratic	Allen Willard Engel	2,395	30.26	-3.43
	PC	Bill Fancourt	2,273	28.72	+0.14
Total			7,914	100.00

Saskatchewan General Election 1982: Assiniboia-Gravelbourg
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Allen Willard Engel	2,875	33.69	-4.80
	Liberal	Ralph Edward Goodale	2,760	32.34	-0.43
	PC	Rene Archambault	2,438	28.57	-0.13
	Western Canada Concept	Hugh Clarke	459	5.37	-
Total			8,532

Assiniboia

Canadian federal election, 1980
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Progressive Conservative	Len Gustafson	11,251
	Liberal	Ralph Goodale	10,167
	New Democratic	Randy MacKenzie	9,710
	Social Credit	Walton Eddy	178

Canadian federal election, 1979
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Progressive Conservative	Len Gustafson	12,365
	New Democratic	Bill Knight	11,183
	Liberal	Ralph Goodale	9,955
	Social Credit	Walton Eddy	292

Canadian federal election, 1974
Party		Candidate	Votes
	Liberal	Ralph Goodale	9,986
	New Democratic	Bill Knight	9,441
	Progressive Conservative	Tom Hart	7,105
	Social Credit	Rod McRae	246

References

1. Archived November 28, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
2. Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
3. Biodata Archived August 12, 2004, at the Wayback Machine.
4. "RCMP to investigate allegations of income trust leak". CBC News. 2005-12-29. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
5. "RCMP investigation conclusion". News.gc.ca. 2011-04-20. Retrieved 2011-12-17.
6. "Goodale cleared in trust case". Canada.com. 2007-02-16. Retrieved 2011-12-17.
7. Taber, Jane (May 31, 2011). "First went their colleagues, now the Grits are losing office space". The Globe and Mail (Toronto). Retrieved 2015-11-10.
8. http://www.cbc.ca/sask/story/goodale-liberals060124.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
9. The Star (Toronto) http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&pubid=968163964505&cid=1142594469090&col=968705899037&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News. Missing or empty |title= (help)
10. Archived November 16, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
11. Delacourt, Susan, "Dion accused of snubbing Orchard", Toronto Star, January 5, 2008
12. Whittington, Les; Tonda MacCharles; Bruce Campion-Smith (2008-11-30). "Tories blink first in showdown". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2008-11-30. One prominent name being mentioned is former Liberal finance minister Ralph Goodale.
13. "Liberals, NDP, Bloc sign deal on proposed coalition". CBC News. 2008-12-01. Retrieved 2014-03-26.
14. "Saskatchewan MP Ralph Goodale sworn in as minister of public safety". CBC News. 2015-11-04. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
15. "Ralph Goodale only MP to serve under both Trudeau prime ministers". CBC News. 2015-10-21. Retrieved 2015-11-05.
16. Office, Government of Canada Privy Council. "Orders in Council - Search". www.pco-bcp.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-03-25.

External links

• Ralph Goodale – Parliament of Canada biography