Paul Bonwick, (born October 24, 1964) is a lobbyist and former politician in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Political career

A businessman, sales and marketing consultant, Bonwick was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the

1997 Canadian federal election File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

as 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 o ...

for

Simcoe—Grey Simcoe—Grey is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. It was created in 1996 from parts of Barrie—Simcoe—Bradford, Bruce—Grey, Simcoe Centre, Simcoe Nor ...

. He was re-elected in the 2000 Canadian federal election. In December 2003, after six years as a government

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

er under

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Jean Chrétien, he was appointed parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development with special emphasis on Student Loans by Chrétien's successor,

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 ...

and as such was appointed to the

Queen's Privy Council for Canada The 's Privy Council for Canada (french: Conseil privé du Roi pour le Canada),) during the reign of a queen. sometimes called Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council (PC), is the full group of personal consultants to the ...

. In the subsequent

2004 Canadian federal election The 2004 Canadian federal election was held on June 28, 2004, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority but was able to continue ...

, Bonwick, having benefited in the past by vote-splitting between the Progressive Conservatives and the Reform Party, fell victim to the new Conservative Party of Canada, losing his seat to Conservative candidate

Helena Guergis Helena C. Guergis, ( ; born February 19, 1969) is a Canadian politician of Assyrian descent. She represented the Ontario riding of Simcoe—Grey in the House of Commons of Canada from 2004 to 2011, and was appointed Minister of State (Status of ...

by 100 votes.

Post-Political Career

Since 2005, Bonwick has been registered as a legislative lobbyist for Access Copyright, a not-for-profit agency representing publishers, authors, photographers and other content creators.

Controversies

An ongoing investigation into fraud and breach of trust involving the Collingwood town hall, including Bonwick's sister Mayor Sandra Cooper, has uncovered hidden payments to Bonwick and that Cooper had presided over and voted on issues in which she had a conflict of interest. A judicial inquiry was called after the

Ontario Provincial Police The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. Under its provincial mandate, the OPP patrols provincial highways and waterways, protects provincial government buildings and officials, patrols unincorp ...

discovered that Bonwick and his consulting company, Compenso Communications, were hired by the former electric utility company (

PowerStream PowerStream Holdings Incorporated was an electric utility servicing communities north of Toronto and in Central Ontario. Its service areas included Aurora, Alliston, Barrie, Beeton, Bradford West Gwillimbury, Penetanguishene, Markham, Richmond ...

) to help them secure a 50% stake in the local power utility, Collus, in 2012; while his sister was mayor of Collingwood. The public was not aware that the mayor's brother was closely connected to the multi-million dollar winning bid at the time. Matters were only made worse when it was revealed that the city had received a much higher bid for Collus from one of PowerStream's rivals. For his help in clinching the deal, Bonwick was paid $323,000 in consulting fees. Records also suggest that he working closely with the Mayor's office at the time and may have had insider information and special access to Collingwood council during the bidding. Bonwick flatly denies that he ever colluded with his sister or that he ever had access to information that wasn't accessible by other parties if they had requested it. As of April 2019 the police investigation is ongoing but no charges have been laid.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonwick, Paul 1964 births 21st-century Canadian politicians Liberal Party of Canada MPs Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada