Colin Carrie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Colin Carrie | |
 |
|
|
Member of Parliament
for Oshawa |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2004 |
|
| Preceded by | Ivan Grose |
|---|---|
|
|
|
| Born | April 11, 1962 Hamilton, Ontario |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Carrie |
| Residence | Oshawa, Ontario |
| Profession | Chiropractor |
Colin Carrie (born April 11, 1962 in Hamilton, Ontario)[citation needed] is a Canadian politician. He is a current member of the Canadian House of Commons, representing the riding of Oshawa in the province of Ontario for the Conservative Party of Canada.
Colin Carrie was elected to the House of Commons in June 2004 and was re-elected in January 2006. On February 7, 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Carrie to the post of Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry, at that time the Honourable Maxime Bernier, and since August 2007 the Honourable Jim Prentice.
Carrie is the son of a late Royal Canadian Navy officer, and lived in several Canadian cities before settling in Oshawa at age fifteen. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Kinesiology from the University of Waterloo, and was awarded a Doctor of Chiropractic in 1989 from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in 1989. He has worked as a chiropractor in private life, and is co-owner of the Lakeview Chiropractic and Wellness Clinic. He is past executive member of the Durham Chiropractic Society and former chair of Spinal Health Week in Durham Region, and has been financial secretary of the Oshawa Knights of Columbus [1].
Carrie was a director of the Oshawa Progressive Conservative Party Association, before that party's 2004 merger with the Canadian Alliance to form the Conservative Party. He was elected for Oshawa in the 2004 federal election, defeating NDP candidate Sid Ryan and Liberal Louise Parkes in a close three-way race. In a close two-way race with returning NDP challenger Sid Ryan, Carrie retained his seat in the 2006 election as part of the first Conservative government to be elected in Canada in almost 13 years.
In the 38th Parliament, Carrie served as a member of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health. After his election in 2004, he reintroduced Private Member's Bill C-420 (previously introduced by James Lunney) to end the listing of vitamins, minerals and related products as drugs under the Canadian Food and Drugs Act. This measure, endorsed and largely designed by Freedom Party activist Trueman Tuck, has been criticized by some as removing a safety provision from the regulation of natural health products.[2] Supporters of the bill argued that it would benefit the position of small producers relative to the pharmaceutical industry.[3]
Carrie has served as Chair of the Conservative Party of Canada’s (CPC) Automotive Caucus and was a member of the CPC's Energy Caucus and Seniors Caucus.
On January 19, 2007, Elections Canada charged Alan Clarke, a former activist in Carrie's 2004 federal election campaign over an alleged defamation against Oshawa NDP candidate, Sid Ryan. Ryan, who is also Ontario President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), also launched a one million dollar libel suit against Clarke. Carrie's campaign manager, Andrew Morin, suggested that the leaflet is a product of union squabbling over an endorsement by the Canadian Auto Workers, and stated that Ryan and Carrie were on good terms.[1][4]
In June 2008, with the announcement that General Motors would be pulling their truck manufacturing operations out of Oshawa, Colin Carrie, along with his Conservative colleague Whitby-Oshawa MP and Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, came under heavy fire from the members of the CAW Local 222 in Oshawa, who had set up a blockade at General Motors' Canadian Headquarters. Carrie, who has been spotted driving an imported Honda Pilot, came under particular scrutiny when GM Plant Chairman for the Local 222 Keith Osborne fired an assault his way, suggesting that Carrie "...can take your old Honda Civic and get the hell outta town!" Osborne's sentiments were backed by enthusiastic support from a jeering crowd of autoworkers. (Follert, Jillian and Mancini, Melissa; Union Protests Could Get "a little illegal"; durhamregion.com; June 6, 2008)
A number of news sources also reported that protestors were becoming increasingly frustrated by Carrie's absence and apparent lack of political support over the Oshawa Truck Assembly closure. A petition was circulating the crowd to encourage Carrie to attend the protest and address the autoworkers without further delay. With news of the plant closure already a week old, any representative of the Conservative government, including Colin Carrie, had yet to attend the protest. (Jones, Allison; Politicians Line Up to Support GM Workers; The Canadian Press, June 7, 2008)
