Paul Bonwick, (born October 24, 1964) is a lobbyist and former politician in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Political career

A businessman, sales and marketing consultant, Bonwick was first elected to the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

in the

1997 Canadian federal election The 1997 Canadian federal election was held on June 2, 1997, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons of the 36th Canadian Parliament, 36th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister of Canada, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien' ...

as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Simcoe—Grey. He was re-elected in the

2000 Canadian federal election The 2000 Canadian federal election was held on November 27, 2000, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 37th Canadian Parliament, 37th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister of Canada, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's Liberal ...

. In December 2003, after six years as a government

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of t ...

er under

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a retired Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. He served as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, leader of t ...

, he was appointed parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development with special emphasis on Student Loans by Chrétien's successor,

Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and retired politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. Th ...

and as such was appointed to the

Queen's Privy Council for Canada The King's Privy Council for Canada (), sometimes called His Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council (PC), is the full group of personal advisors to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs. Practically, ...

. In the subsequent

2004 Canadian federal election The 2004 Canadian federal election was held on June 28, 2004, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority but was able to continue ...

, Bonwick, having benefited in the past by vote-splitting between the Progressive Conservatives and the Reform Party, fell victim to the new

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

, losing his

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

to Conservative candidate Helena Guergis by 100 votes.

Post-Political Career

Since 2005, Bonwick has been registered as a legislative lobbyist for Access Copyright, a not-for-profit agency representing publishers, authors, photographers and other content creators.

Controversies

An ongoing investigation into fraud and breach of trust involving the Collingwood town hall, including Bonwick's sister Mayor Sandra Cooper, has uncovered hidden payments to Bonwick and that Cooper had presided over and voted on issues in which she had a conflict of interest. A judicial inquiry was called after the

Ontario Provincial Police The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the State police, provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. The OPP patrols Provincial highways in Ontario, provincial highways and waterways; protects Government of Ontario, provincial government buil ...

discovered that Bonwick and his consulting company, Compenso Communications, were hired by the former electric utility company ( PowerStream) to help them secure a 50% stake in the local power utility, Collus, in 2012; while his sister was mayor of Collingwood. The public was not aware that the mayor's brother was closely connected to the multi-million dollar winning bid at the time. Matters were only made worse when it was revealed that the city had received a much higher bid for Collus from one of PowerStream's rivals. For his help in clinching the deal, Bonwick was paid $323,000 in consulting fees. Records also suggest that he working closely with the Mayor's office at the time and may have had insider information and special access to Collingwood council during the bidding. Bonwick flatly denies that he ever colluded with his sister or that he ever had access to information that wasn't accessible by other parties if they had requested it. As of April 2019 the police investigation is ongoing but no charges have been laid.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonwick, Paul 1964 births 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada Liberal Party of Canada MPs Living people Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada