Brian Tobin (politician)

Brian Tobin (1998)

Brian Vincent Tobin (* 21st October 1954 in Stephenville , Newfoundland ) is a Canadian politician of the Liberal Party and was among others between 1996 and 2000. Prime Minister of Newfoundland and Labrador .

Life

Tobin began his political career in federal politics in 1980 when he was first elected a member of the Canadian House of Commons . There he represented the constituency of St. Barbe-Baie Verte in Newfoundland after re-elections in 1984 , 1988 and 1993 to 1996 .

In the liberal governments of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and John Turner , he was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Fisheries and Oceans from 1981 to 1984.

After the Liberal Party suffered an electoral defeat in 1984, he took over duties in the opposition and was initially opposition spokesman for forestry and vice spokesman for transport from 1984 to 1987. He then was the opposition spokesman for regional industrial expansion and privatization for a year, before he was chairman of the Liberal Party Committee from 1988 to 1990 and at the same time opposition spokesman for transport from 1989 to 1990. He was then spokesman for the opposition for employment between 1990 and 1992 and, in 1992, chairman of the communications committee of the Liberal Party Committee. As a member of the so-called "Rat Pack", a group within the Liberal Party around Don Boudria , John Nunziata and Sheila Copps , he was one of the leading leaders of the party.

After the Liberal electoral victory, he was appointed Minister for Fisheries and Oceans by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in November 1993 and held this post until January 1996. As Minister, he prevented a bill to introduce a user fee system in the Canadian Atlantic Ocean , which would have hit coastal fishermen. As early as 1987 he forced the debate about this legislative initiative to be postponed and has now contributed to giving up this idea completely. During that time, he also issued some moratoria on fishing in the Atlantic: In addition to preventing two US trawlers off the east coast of Canada, he also introduced a license fee for US ships in Canadian territorial waters . In 1994 he announced to the United Nations that Canada would confiscate foreign fishing vessels outside the Exclusive Economic Zone ( 200-mile zone ). A Spanish trawler was arrested during the subsequent confrontation, known as the Flounder War . Tobin's threat to extend this campaign if European Union ships did not stop fishing for turbot resulted in an agreement with the EU.

On January 26, 1996, he succeeded Clyde Wells as Prime Minister of Newfoundland and Labrador and held this position for more than four years until his resignation on October 16, 2000.

He then returned to the federal government and was Minister of Industry in the government of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien until 2002.

Web links

• rulers.org