Mark Eyking (born August 30, 1960) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician who served as the

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 o ...

for the riding of

Sydney—Victoria Sydney—Victoria is a federal electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. It was created in 1996 from parts of Cape Breton—The Sydneys, Cape Breton—East Richmond and ...

from 2000 to 2019 as a member of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

Early life and education

Eyking was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia. His parents, born in

Beverwijk Beverwijk () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The town is located about northwest of Amsterdam in the Randstad metropolitan area, north of the North Sea Canal very close to the North Sea coast. A ...

(father) and

Moergestel Moergestel () is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Oisterwijk, about 7 km East of Tilburg. History The village was first mentioned in 1147 as Gestele, and means "guest house". Moer (moor ...

(mother), emigrated from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

to Canada in 1952. Not being able to travel to their city of preference

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

due to a lack of funds, they chose to start a business in

olericulture Olericulture is the science of vegetable growing, dealing with the culture of non-woody (herbaceous) plants for food. Olericulture is the production of plants for use of the edible parts. Vegetable crops can be classified into nine major categor ...

in Sydney, where Eyking was born eight years later. Eyking was educated at the

Nova Scotia Agricultural College Nova Scotia Agricultural College (NSAC) was a publicly owned Canadian university college (founded 14 February 1905 and administered within the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture) located at Bible Hill, Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia Agricultura ...

, where he obtained his Agriculture Business Diploma. Now a resident of Millville, Nova Scotia, Eyking is a farmer by career.

Political career

On October 29, 2000, Eyking won 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 ...

nomination in the

riding for the 2000 federal election. On November 27, 2000, he defeated New Democrat incumbent

Peter Mancini Dominic Peter Mancini (born August 1, 1956) is a Canadian politician and lawyer. Mancini was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1997 federal election that saw a breakthrough for the New Democratic Party in the province of Nova Sco ...

by over 5,000 votes to win a seat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

. Eyking was re-elected in the 2004, 2006,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, 2011, and 2015 federal elections. In

Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. The son o ...

's government, he served as the Parliamentary Secretary to the

Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food The minister of agriculture and agri-food (french: ministre de l'agriculture et de l'agroalimentaire) is a minister of the Crown in the Cabinet of Canada, who is responsible for overseeing several organizations including Agriculture and Agri-Foo ...

with special emphasis on Agri-Food (2003–2004) and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Trade with special emphasis on Emerging Markets (2004–2006). He served as the chair of the Standing Committee on International Trade during the

42nd Canadian Parliament The 42nd Canadian Parliament was in session from December 3, 2015, to September 11, 2019, with the membership of its lower chamber, the House of Commons of Canada, having been determined by the results of the 2015 federal election held on Octob ...

. Eyking announced on February 13, 2019 that he wouldn't run for re-election in 2019.

Personal life

His wife Pam represented the riding of

Victoria-The Lakes Victoria—The Lakes is a provincial electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that elects one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. Its Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) since the 2017 election has been Keith Bain of the Progress ...

as a Liberal MLA in the

Nova Scotia House of Assembly The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (french: Assemblée législative de la Nouvelle-Écosse; gd, Taigh Seanaidh Alba Nuadh), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia of the province of Nova Scotia ...

from 2013 to 2017.

Electoral record

References

External links

Official site
*
Liberal Party of Canada bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eyking, Mark 1960 births Liberal Party of Canada MPs Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Nova Scotia Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada People from Sydney, Nova Scotia Canadian people of Dutch descent Farmers from Nova Scotia Nova Scotia Agricultural College alumni 21st-century Canadian politicians