Charles Strahl,
PCThe Queen's Privy Council for Canada , sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council,
is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign...
,
MPThe House of Commons is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate.
The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament .
Members are elected by simple...
(born February 25, 1957 in New Westminster,
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
) is a politician in
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He is a Member of Parliament in the governing
Conservative Party of CanadaThe Conservative Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Tories, is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. The party is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
, and is the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.
Strahl was raised in British Columbia's Interior, attended
Trinity Western UniversityTrinity Western University is a private, Christian liberal arts university located in Langley, British Columbia, Canada.The school was founded in 1962 as Trinity Junior College, and now enrolls approximately 4000 students and sits on a campus....
, and worked for a private logging and road building company called Cheam Construction, which was owned by his father Bill Strahl, and later by him and his siblings after his father died.
Charles Strahl,
PCThe Queen's Privy Council for Canada , sometimes called Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council,
is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs, though responsible government requires the sovereign...
,
MPThe House of Commons is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate.
The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament .
Members are elected by simple...
(born February 25, 1957 in New Westminster,
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
) is a politician in
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He is a Member of Parliament in the governing
Conservative Party of CanadaThe Conservative Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Tories, is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. The party is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
, and is the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.
Strahl was raised in British Columbia's Interior, attended
Trinity Western UniversityTrinity Western University is a private, Christian liberal arts university located in Langley, British Columbia, Canada.The school was founded in 1962 as Trinity Junior College, and now enrolls approximately 4000 students and sits on a campus....
, and worked for a private logging and road building company called Cheam Construction, which was owned by his father Bill Strahl, and later by him and his siblings after his father died. He was first elected to office in the
Reform PartyThe Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a conservative and populist party...
sweep of the region in the
1993 electionThe Canadian federal election of 1993 was held on October 25 of that year to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 35th Parliament of Canada. Fourteen parties competed for the 295 seats in the House at that time...
. He was re-elected in
1997The Canadian federal election of 1997 was held on June 2, 1997, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 36th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's Liberal Party of Canada won a second majority government...
and
2000The 2000 Canadian federal election was held on November 27, 2000, to elect 301 Members of Parliament of the Canadian House of Commons of the 37th Parliament of Canada....
elections, running as a member of the
Canadian AllianceThe Canadian Alliance , formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance , was a Canadian conservative political party that existed from 2000 to 2003...
, which had replaced Reform, in 2000. He represents
Chilliwack—Fraser CanyonChilliwack—Fraser Canyon is a federal electoral district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004.-Geography:...
, a large riding comprising the
Upper Fraser ValleyFraser Valley is the section of the Fraser River basin in southwestern British Columbia downstream of the Fraser Canyon. The term is sometimes used to refer to the Fraser Canyon and stretches upstream from there, but in general British Columbian usage the term refers to the stretch of the river...
, a primarily agricultural area of the province, and the
Fraser CanyonThe Fraser Canyon is a stretch of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley...
-
LillooetThe Lillooet Country, also referred to as the Lillooet District., is a region spanning from the central Fraser Canyon town of Lillooet west to the valley of the Lillooet River, and including the valleys in between, in the Southern Interior of British Columbia. Like other historical BC regions, it...
-
Bridge RiverThe Bridge River Country is a historic geographic region and mining district in the Interior of British Columbia, Canada, lying between the Fraser Canyon and the valley of the Lillooet River, south of the Chilcotin Plateau and north of the Lillooet Ranges...
regions, which are mostly wilderness with a resource-based economy and also, like the Chilliwack area, have a significant First Nations population. He has held a number of
shadow cabinetThe Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government...
and committee positions.
Strahl first rose to national prominence in the summer of 2001 when he was the leader and most outspoken member of a group of Canadian Alliance MPs opposed to the leadership of
Stockwell DayStockwell Burt Day, Jr., PC, MP , is a Canadian politician and a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. He is a former cabinet minister in Alberta, and a former leader of the Canadian Alliance. Day is currently MP for the riding of Okanagan—Coquihalla in British Columbia and the Minister of...
. Strahl and a group of other MPs left the Alliance caucus and sat as members of the
Democratic Representative CaucusThe Democratic Representative Caucus was a group of Canadian Members of Parliament who left the Canadian Alliance in 2001 in protest against the leadership of Stockwell Day...
and worked closely with the
Progressive Conservative PartyThe Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and a centrist stance on social issues....
. Strahl's efforts were successful, and Day was ousted as party leader and replaced by
Stephen HarperStephen Joseph Harper, PC, MP is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada, and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became Prime Minister after his party won a minority government in the January 2006 federal election...
.
Strahl was viewed as a well-spoken and moderate member of the Canadian Alliance who could woo eastern Canada, but his leadership ambitions were frustrated due to his inability to speak
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
, as well as the lasting distrust amongst many colleagues over his rebellion in 2001. He attempted to launch a bid for the
leadership of the Conservative PartyThe 2004 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election took place on March 20, 2004 in Toronto, Ontario, and resulted in the election of Stephen Harper as the first leader of the new Canadian Conservative Party...
, but could not secure enough financial or political support to launch a viable campaign. Strahl then supported
Tony ClementTony Peter Clement, PC, MP , is a Canadian politician, federal Minister of Industry, Minister for the Federal Economic Initiative for Northern Ontario and member of the Conservative Party of Canada....
in his failed leadership bid.
At the outset of the
38th Parliament of CanadaThe 38th Canadian Parliament was in session from October 4 2004 until November 29 2005. The membership was set by the 2004 federal election on June 28 2004, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections, but due to the seat distribution, those few changes significantly affected...
, Strahl was appointed Deputy Speaker and Chairman of Committees of the Whole under the new rules brought about as a result of the minority government situation.
In August 2005, Strahl announced that he had been diagnosed with inoperable/terminal
lung cancerLung cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. This growth may lead to metastasis, which is the invasion of adjacent tissue and infiltration beyond the lungs. The vast majority of primary lung cancers are carcinomas of the lung, derived from epithelial cells...
as the result of exposure to
asbestosAsbestos is a naturally occurring silicate mineral with long, thin fibrous crystals. The word asbestos is a borrowed Greek adjective meaning inextinguishable. The Greeks termed asbestos the miracle mineral because of its soft and pliant properties, as well as its ability to withstand...
many years prior. He noticed the problem in July of the same year when his lung collapsed twice.
However, despite his health problems, he successfully ran for re-election in the 2006 election. Although it was widely speculated that he would become
SpeakerSpeaker of the Canadian House of Commons is the presiding officer of the lower house and is elected at the beginning of each new parliament by fellow MPs. The Speaker's role in presiding over Canada's House of Commons is similar to that of Speakers elsewhere in other countries that use the...
of the new Parliament, he instead joined
Stephen HarperStephen Joseph Harper, PC, MP is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada, and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became Prime Minister after his party won a minority government in the January 2006 federal election...
's Cabinet as Minister of Agriculture on February 6, 2006. On August 14, 2007, he became Indian Affairs Minister and The Federal Interlocutor in a
cabinet shuffleIn the parliamentary system a cabinet shuffle or reshuffle is an informal term for an event that occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in his or her cabinet....
.
Strahl married in 1975 and has four children. He is a member of the Chilliwack Alliance Church.
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