Derek Vincent Lee (born October 2, 1948) is a Canadian former politician. From 1988 to 2011 he was the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for the riding of

Scarborough—Rouge River Scarborough—Rouge River was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada between 1988 and 2015. However, as of the Fall 2015 federal election, part of this riding has been com ...

Background

Lee was born in

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

. His father was an

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...

officer. He attended

Neil McNeil High School Neil McNeil Catholic High School is an all-boys Roman Catholic secondary school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is named after Neil McNeil, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vancouver from 1910 to 1912 and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Toronto from ...

and graduated in 1966. Before entering politics, he was a political assistant to Federal MP

Paul Cosgrove Paul James Cosgrove, (born December 30, 1934), is a former Canadian jurist as well as a former politician. Cosgrove is, as of , the last surviving mayor of the former city of Scarborough. Political career A lawyer by profession, Cosgrove ente ...

in 1982 and also Ontario Housing Minister

Alvin Curling Alvin Curling (born November 15, 1939) is a Jamaican-born Canadian politician. He was Canada's envoy to the Dominican Republic from 2005 to 2006. A former politician in Ontario, Canada, he was Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario unt ...

in 1985. He is married to Ingrid Lee, and has two children, Katherine and Mackenzie.

Politics

In 1984, he lost a nomination bid for Liberal candidacy in the old riding of

York—Scarborough York—Scarborough was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1953 to 1988. It was located in the province of Ontario. In the twelve general elections held during York—Scarborough's existence, the par ...

. In 1988, he was first elected to the House of Commons in

and was re-elected in every election until he retired in 2011. In the run up to the 1993 Federal election he was in danger of losing a nomination battle to challenger Gobinder Randhawa. However Liberal leader

Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. Born and raised in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Chrétien is a law graduate from Uni ...

intervened and designated Lee as the candidate. From 1999 to 2001 he was the parliamentary secretary to the leader of the government in the House of Commons. During his tenure as MP, he supported judicial reform. In 1993, he tabled a

private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

that would have given rape victims the right to have blood samples taken from an offender. On March 24, 2011, Lee announced that he was retiring from politics. He said it was "time to press the refresh button" for the riding that he has represented for 23 years.

Books

Lee has written two books which discuss regulations of the House of Commons. * Matters related to the review of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner: report of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. (2003). * Improving the Supreme Court of Canada appointments process: report of the Standing Committee on Justice, Human Rights, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. (2004).

Beliefs

While Lee was a member of the Liberal party, he espoused

social conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional power structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institution ...

viewpoints. Contrary to Liberal party policy, he expressed anti-abortion views, and also supported the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

. He said "I believe the death penalty should always be available to reflect the degree of society's disgust at certain capital crimes." He also opposed same sex marriage. Lee also received criticism for his support of the controversial

Church of Scientology The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a scientology as a business, bu ...

. Lee addressed Scientology seminars and appeared in a promotional video for the Church of Scientology. Lee identifies as a Roman Catholic and is not a member of the Church of Scientology. He once considered becoming a priest but he is no longer drawn to the Roman Catholic religion. "I have done some cursory reading. I'm not personally drawn to atholicism but I have to say that about many religious faiths."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Derek 1948 births Liberal Party of Canada MPs Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario People from Halifax, Nova Scotia People from Scarborough, Toronto Politicians from Toronto 21st-century Canadian politicians