Mike de Jong, (born 1963 or 1964) is a provincial politician and was cabinet minister of the Legislative Assembly of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Early life

De Jong was born to

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

parents who immigrated to

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 ...

after Canadian soldiers liberated 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 ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. At age eight, he and his family moved to a farm in the

District of Matsqui Matsqui is a former district municipality in British Columbia, Canada. It was incorporated in 1892 and merged with the district municipality of Abbotsford in 1995 to create the new City of Abbotsford. Matsqui used to be the western part of what is ...

in British Columbia. He attended Abbotsford's last single-room elementary school and worked as farm labourer as an early teen. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning Wo ...

in Ottawa and a law degree from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...

. After graduating from law school, De Jong returned to Matsqui to set up a law practice and was elected at age 26 as one of Canada's youngest school board members.

Provincial politics

In 1994, De Jong was recruited by

Gordon Campbell Gordon Muir Campbell, (born January 12, 1948) is a retired Canadian diplomat and politician who was the 35th mayor of Vancouver from 1986 to 1993 and the 34th premier of British Columbia from 2001 to 2011. He was the leader of the British Co ...

of the

British Columbia Liberal Party The British Columbia Liberal Party, often shortened to the BC Liberals, is a centre-right provincial political party in British Columbia, Canada. The party currently forms the Official Opposition. Subsequent to the 2020 British Columbia genera ...

to compete against new Social Credit Party leader

Grace McCarthy Grace Mary McCarthy, OC, OBC, LLD, DTech, FRAIC (Hon.) (née Winterbottom; October 14, 1927 – May 24, 2017) was a Canadian politician and florist in British Columbia. A high-ranking member of the Social Credit Party of British Columbia, she ...

in a byelection in Matsqui. The Socreds had represented the riding for 42 years until De Jong defeated McCarthy by a margin of 42 votes. McCarthy had been attempting to rebuild the province's governing political party. Shortly after the loss, McCarthy resigned as Social Credit Party leader, and the party failed to elect any members in the subsequent provincial election in 1996. De Jong was re-elected in the 1996, 2001, and 2005 elections in the new riding of

Abbotsford-Mount Lehman Abbotsford- Mount Lehman was a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada from 2001 to 2009. Demographics Geography 1999 Redistribution Changes from Matsqui to Abbotsford-Mount Lehman includ ...

, and in the newly created riding of

Abbotsford West Abbotsford West is a provincial electoral district in the Canadian province of British Columbia established by the ''Electoral Districts Act, 2008''. It was first contested in the 2009 British Columbia general election. History Member of ...

in the 2009 election. De Jong was a member of the Official Opposition between 1994 and 2001. In the Liberal government, he served as government house leader On December 1, 2010, Mike de Jong announced that he would seek the leadership of the BC Liberal Party, in the February 26, 2011 leadership election. He placed fourth in the leadership election, which was won by

Christy Clark Christina Joan Clark (born October 29, 1965) is a former Canadian politician who was the 35th premier of British Columbia (BC), from 2011 to 2017. Clark was the second woman to be premier of BC, after Rita Johnston in 1991, and the first female ...

. In 2012, Mike de Jong's Ministry of Health fired seven health ministry workers without cause, Margaret MacDiarmid as his freshly appointed replacement falsely claimed that the RCMP were investigating their misbehavior. Later, after one worker committed suicide, others sued, none were charged, some got cash settlements and their jobs back, and the premier apologized, it came to light that the RCMP, for lack of evidence, had never launched any investigation at all. The case was reviewed by the BC ombudsperson's, who issued many recommendations citing the impropriety of actions taken by De Jong and his successor. Among these recommendations was that the government of British Columbia endows a scholarship in the memory of the worker who committed suicide as a result of these improprieties. He was appointed minister of finance on September 5, 2012. He previously held the posts of Minister of

Health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

, attorney general, Labour and Citizen Services, Forests, Public Safety, and Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation.

Controversy

As an Opposition Critic, De Jong was regarded as very vocal. He was ejected from the legislative assembly for calling then-Attorney General Colin Gableman a "liar" and was later sued for libel by federal cabinet minister

Herb Dhaliwal Harbance Singh (Herb) Dhaliwal, PC (born December 12, 1952) is a Canadian politician and businessman. He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1993 election as the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Vancouver South. ...

. In 2004, as Minister of Forests, De Jong removed 70,000 hectares of land from TFL 44 with no compensation from the owner and against the recommendations of ministry staff. This effectively privatized what had been Crown Land without compensation to the province. The changes made allowed the wood to be exported as raw logs rather than lumber. It also allowed for its eventual development. The land in question was under dispute by the Hupacasath First Nation and also the

Tseshaht First Nation Tseshaht First Nation is an amalgamation of many tribes up and down Alberni Inlet and in the Alberni Valley of central Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. They are a member of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council which i ...

. No consultation took place and the bands have since filed legal action. He has also been linked to other such privatizations of Crown forest land. In 2010, De Jong faced further controversy when, as attorney general, he approved the payment of $6 million in legal fees for Liberal Party insiders David Basi and Robert Virk who pleaded guilty to charges of breach of trust and accepting benefits in connection with the sale of

BC Rail BC Rail is a railway in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Chartered as a private company in 1912 as the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE), it was acquired by the provincial government in 1918. In 1972 it was renamed to the British ...

in 2003. De Jong defended his actions saying the government's Legal Services Branch had recommended they not try to collect the funds since the aides did not have any money.

Electoral record

References

External links