Andrew Saxton (born March 11, 1964) is a Canadian politician and businessman who served as a member of Parliament (MP) represented the riding of North Vancouver in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

from 2008 to 2015. A member of the Conservative Party, he ran in the 2019 federal election and the 2017 leadership race, but was unsuccessful in both.

Early life and education

Born in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Saxton is the son of a Hungarian father who arrived in Canada in 1947 and became a successful businessman. Saxton graduated with honors from

Upper Canada College Upper Canada College (UCC) is an independent day and boarding school for boys in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The college is widely described as Canada's most prestigious preparatory school, and ha ...

in 1982, where he served as head of Wedd's House and as a member of the UCC Board of Stewards. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Administrative and Commercial Studies (Finance) from the University of Western Ontario in 1986, now known as a Bachelor of Management and Organizational Studies (BMOS - Finance).

Early career

Saxton began his career in finance with

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG (, ) was a global Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration ...

in Switzerland and later held positions at Credit Suisse in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where he was promoted to assistant treasurer. He returned to Vancouver with the firm before moving to Hong Kong in 1994 as senior account manager with

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

. In 1997, he was appointed senior vice-president of HSBC Private Banking in Singapore. Before entering politics, Saxton served as the CEO of King George Financial Corporation, a real-estate investment firm, and as a director of Canaco Resources Inc., a mineral exploration company. He was also involved in various community roles, including as director of the Heart & Stroke Foundation of BC and Yukon, member of the BC Premier's Asia Pacific Trade Council, and as a former member of the Vancouver City Planning Commission and the YVR Aeronautical Noise Management Committee. Saxton was also the founder and past president of the Pacific Club.

Political career

Parliamentary Secretary Andrew Saxton welcomes Indian scholars visiting Simon Fraser University

Saxton was first elected to the House of Commons in the

2008 Canadian federal election The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on October 14, 2008, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the 39th Canadian Parliament, previous parliament had been dissolved by Governor General o ...

and was re-elected in 2011. He was appointed parliamentary secretary to the

President of the Treasury Board The president of the Treasury Board () is a minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet. The president is the chair of the Treasury Board of Canada (a committee of Cabinet in the Privy Council) and is the minister responsible for the Treasur ...

after his first election and continued in this role after his re-election in 2011. In addition, he took on the responsibilities of Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Western Economic Diversification. In September 2013, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance, Jim Flaherty. Saxton served on several parliamentary committees, including the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, the Joint Standing Committee on Scrutiny of Regulations, and the Finance Committee. He held leadership roles in various parliamentary friendship groups, including as vice-chair of the Canada-China Legislative Association and co-chair of the Canada-Philippines Interparliamentary Group. Saxton also chaired the Canada-Hong Kong, Canada-Malaysia, and Canada-Brunei Parliamentary Friendship Groups and served as vice-chair for Canada-Thailand and Canada-Vietnam Parliamentary Friendship Groups. Saxton lost re-election in 2015 to Liberal candidate

Jonathan Wilkinson Jonathan D. Wilkinson (born June 11, 1965) is a Canadian politician and former businessman. A member of the Liberal Party, he has represented North Vancouver—Capilano in the House of Commons since the 2015 federal election. Wilkinson pre ...

and challenged him unsuccessfully in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. In 2017, Saxton placed 13th in the Conservative Party of Canada leadership race.

Post-political career

After leaving politics, Saxton returned to his business ventures and is currently the CEO of King George Financial Corporation, President of Saxton Capital Corporation, and President of Upper Island Development Ltd.

Awards

In 2012, Saxton was awarded the

Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal () or The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession in 1952. There are four versions of the medal: one iss ...

for his service to his community. In 2016, he received the

Order of Merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...

from the Republic of Hungary for his contributions to strengthening relations between Canada and Hungary.

Electoral record

References

* https://web.archive.org/web/20120326093905/http://www.alumnigazette.ca/issues/springsummer-2011/14-alumni-elected-as-mps-in.html

External links

Andrew Saxton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saxton, Andrew 1964 births Canadian people of Hungarian descent Conservative Party of Canada MPs Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia People from North Vancouver Upper Canada College alumni HSBC people University of Western Ontario alumni 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada