Preceded by New riding Succeeded by Riding abolished Succeeded by Kathleen Wynne Constituency York Mills | Constituency Don Valley West Name David Turnbull Preceded by Brad Nixon | |
David Turnbull (born March 17, 1942) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 2003, and was a candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada in the federal election of 2004.
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Background
Turnbull was educated at the Edinburgh College of Domestic Sciences, and worked as a hotel manager in Scotland, Switzerland and Germany. Upon moving to Canada, he continued his education at the Canadian Institute of Management. Before entering public life, he served as a manager for Xerox Canada Ltd. and as President of Turnbull Luetolf Ltd. He also became involved in conservative citizens' groups, including the Ratepayers' Association and the Citizens for Property Tax Reform.
Politics
Turnbull was elected to the provincial legislature in the 1990 provincial election, defeating incumbent Liberal Brad Nixon by about 3,000 votes in the North York riding of York Mills. The election was won by the New Democratic Party, and Turnbull sat in the opposition benches for the next five years.
The Tories won a majority government in the provincial election of 1995, and Turnbull was re-elected by more than 11,000 votes over his nearest opponent. He was appointed Government Whip in 1995, and retained this position on being named a Minister without Portfolio in Mike Harris's government on October 10, 1997.
In 1999, Turnbull was re-elected in the redistributed Don Valley West riding, outpolling Liberal candidate Paul Davidson by over 3,000 votes.
On June 17, 1999, Turnbull was promoted to Minister of Transportation, and on February 8, 2001, was named to the position of Solicitor General. In the latter capacity, he was responsible for creating the province's first Sex Offender Registry.
When Ernie Eves succeeded Harris as Premier of Ontario on April 15, 2002, he named Turnbull as his Associate Minister of Enterprise, Opportunity and Innovation. Turnbull held this position until the defeat of the Eves government in the 2003 provincial election.
Turnbull was among the Tory incumbents defeated in the 2003 election, falling to Liberal candidate Kathleen Wynne by over 6,000 votes. He sought election to Canadian House of Commons for the federal Don Valley West riding the following year, but was defeated by Liberal incumbent John Godfrey.