The Honourable Stockwell Day PC ECA
Day in 2010
President of the Treasury Board
In office January 29, 2010 – May 18, 2011
Prime Minister	Stephen Harper
Preceded by	Vic Toews
Succeeded by	Tony Clement
Minister of International Trade
In office October 30, 2008 – January 19, 2010
Prime Minister	Stephen Harper
Preceded by	Michael Fortier
Succeeded by	Peter Van Loan
Minister of Public Safety
In office February 6, 2006 – October 30, 2008
Prime Minister	Stephen Harper
Preceded by	Anne McLellan
Succeeded by	Peter Van Loan
Leader of the Opposition
In office September 11, 2000 – December 11, 2001
Preceded by	Deborah Grey
Succeeded by	John Reynolds
Leader of theCanadian Alliance
In office July 8, 2000 – December 11, 2001
Preceded by	Deborah Grey (interim)
Succeeded by	John Reynolds (interim)
Alberta Executive Council Provincial Treasurer In office March 29, 1997 – June 1, 2000 Premier Ralph Klein Preceded by Jim Dinning Succeeded by Steve West Minister of Family and Social Services In office May 31, 1996 – March 29, 1997 Premier Ralph Klein Preceded by Mike Cardinal Succeeded by Lyle Oberg Minister of Labour In office December 14, 1992 – May 31, 1996 Premier Ralph Klein Preceded by Elaine McCoy Succeeded by Murray Smith
Parliamentary constituencies Member of Parliament forOkanagan—Coquihalla In office September 11, 2000 – May 2, 2011 Preceded by Jim Hart Succeeded by Dan Albas Member of theLegislative Assembly of Alberta forRed Deer-North In office May 8, 1986 – July 11, 2000 Preceded by Jim McPherson(Red Deer) Succeeded by Mary Anne Jablonski
Personal details
Born	Stockwell Burt Day Jr. (1950-08-16)August 16, 1950 (age 75) Barrie,Ontario, Canada
Political party	Conservative (since 2003)
Other political affiliations	Progressive Conservative (provincial; 1986–2000) Canadian Alliance (2000–2003)
Spouse	Valorie Martin ​ (m. 1971)​
Children	3
Residence(s)	Penticton,British Columbia, Canada
Alma mater	University of Victoria (no degree)
Occupation	Politician auctioneer businessman school administrator

Stockwell Burt Day Jr.PC ECA (born August 16, 1950) is a former Canadian politician who served as leader of theCanadian Alliance from 2000 to 2001 and later as a member of theConservative Party of Canada.

A provincial cabinet minister fromAlberta, Day served as minister of labour, minister of social services, and treasurer underPremierRalph Klein. He successfullyran for leader of the newly formed Canadian Alliance against formerReform Party leaderPreston Manning, winning that position on July 8, 2000. Following his election as leader, Day won the by-election to become themember of Parliament (MP) for the riding ofOkanagan—Coquihalla inBritish Columbia. In the2000 federal election, the Alliance under Day only made modest gains, increasing their seat count from 58 to 66. A breakthrough inthe East did not happen, and theLiberal Party underPrime MinisterJean Chrétien won a third consecutivemajority government.

After the election, Day's leadership of the party was met with criticism, witha caucus revolt taking place. Following the election, Daylost his role as leader, but continued to serve as an MP. He then held several cabinet portfolios under Prime MinisterStephen Harper and was widely seen as a prominent voice forsocial conservatives within the Conservative Party. Day did not seek re-election in the2011 federal election.^[1][2]

Day was born inBarrie,Ontario, the son of Gwendolyn "Gwen" (née Gilbert) and Stockwell Day Sr.^[3] He lived in a number of places in Canada during his youth, includingAtlantic Canada;Ottawa, where he attendedAshbury College; andMontreal, where he graduated fromWestmount High School. He attended theUniversity of Victoria andVanguard College, then known as Northwest Bible College, inEdmonton, Alberta, but did not graduate from either.^[4][5][6]

His father, who was born in Montreal, was long associated with theSocial Credit Party of Canada. In the1972 federal election, he was theSocial Credit candidate running againstNew Democratic Party leaderTommy Douglas in the riding ofNanaimo—Cowichan—The Islands. Day Sr. supportedDoug Christie and was a member of theWestern Canada Concept.

From 1978 to 1985, Day was assistant pastor and school administrator at the Bentley Christian Centre inBentley, Alberta. His school taught theAccelerated Christian Education curriculum.^[7]

In 1986, Day was elected to representRed Deer North in theLegislative Assembly of Alberta as aProgressive Conservative (PC), a position that he held until 2000.

In December 1992, newly elected Alberta premierRalph Klein brought Day into his cabinet as his minister of labour, a position in which he oversaw controversial changes in his ministry, including layoffs in the civil service. In this role, Day was credited with working with all of Alberta's Public Service Unions to achieve an unprecedented five per cent voluntary reduction in their collective agreements. While Day was minister of labour, Alberta had the lowest number of days lost due to labour disputes of any province. As Minister Responsible for the Worker's Compensation Board, Day oversaw the elimination of the Compensation Board's unfunded liability of $600 million. This led to a general reduction in premiums for businesses and a general increase in workers' benefits.^{[citation needed]}

In October 1994, Government House Leader was added to his responsibility.^{[citation needed]} In May 1996, Day was made Minister of Social Services^[8] and, in March 1997, he became Treasurer.^[9] As Treasurer, Day oversaw a continued paying down of Alberta's debt while he cut taxes, instituting aflat tax rate in 1999.^{[citation needed]}

In April 1999, while Day was still Treasurer, he wrote a letter criticizing Red Deer lawyer and public school board trustee Lorne Goddard for representing a defendant who was ultimately convicted on charges of possessing child pornography. In the letter, Day suggested that Goddard's argument in court that theCanadian Constitution protected his client's right to possess child pornography implied that he himself believed that pedophiles have the right to own such materials and that this further implies that he also must believe that teachers should have the right to pornographic images of their students.^[10][11]

In response, Goddard sued Day for defamation. The suit was eventually settled on December 22, 2000, in the plaintiff's favour.^[10] According to an adjudication order from the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta,^[12] the total settlement cost for the suit was $792,064.40, including $60,000 in damages paid to the plaintiff, costs that were paid by Alberta taxpayers. However, Day eventually paid back the Alberta Government the $60,000 in damages out of his own pocket. Additionally, Day later wrote a letter to a local paper in his riding as a member of Parliament expressing deep regret "that my former friend Lorne Goddard and his family, have been personally hurt."^[13]

In 2000, Day decided to run for leader of the newly formedCanadian Alliance party. After a heavily publicized campaign, Day came in first on the June 24 first ballot of theleadership election with about 44 per cent of the vote, in front of formerReform Party leaderPreston Manning andOntario PC strategistTom Long. In the following runoff election against Manning, held on July 8, 2000, Day received 63.4 per cent.

Looking for a way to get into Parliament, Day decided against running in his hometown riding ofRed Deer, even though it was comfortably safe for the Alliance. Instead, he ran in a by-election in the equally safe riding ofOkanagan—Coquihalla,British Columbia after incumbent Reform/CA MPJim Hart stood down in his favour—a standard practice in most parliamentary systems when a newly elected leader doesn't have a seat in Parliament. Day won the by-election on September 11, 2000, arriving at his first news conference on a Jet Ski wearing a wetsuit.^[14]

A few weeks after Day entered the House of Commons,Jean Chrétien called asnap election for November 27, 2000, which would not give the newly formed Canadian Alliance time to consolidate itself. Nonetheless, the new party went into the election with high hopes, as Day was expected to appeal far more to the crucial Ontario voters than his predecessors.

There were few, if any, important issues when the election was called; nonetheless, theLiberals frequently alleged that Day had a hidden agenda, identifying Day with theChristian right, and drawing attention to his past comments about homosexuality and abortion.

In an interview published in the alternative weeklyMontreal Mirror on June 8, Day addressed some of the perceptions that he was homophobic. He began by denying that he had ever referred to homosexuality as a "mental disorder". He acknowledged having gay staff working on his campaign: "First of all, as far as my campaign, I don't ask people if they're homosexual, lesbian or heterosexual. People who are working on my campaign are doing so because they believe in me. That doesn't mean that they necessarily agree 100 per cent with everything I believe. But in principle they're saying we think you can take this Alliance to the next step and we think you'd be good for Canada. So I don't ask. Nobody has to pass a sex test to be on this campaign." But the statement that made headlines in newspapers across the country was Day's acknowledgment that he would indeed consider using the Notwithstanding Clause to block a Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage, then a distinct possibility that was unnerving many social conservatives. After being pressed by journalistMatthew Hays on theNotwithstanding Clause question, Day replied "Yes, and the reason I say that is because such a significant number of constituents would reflect concern on that and would want the discussion. The Alberta position on this is that the definition of marriage changing would allow for the use of the Notwithstanding Clause. That's because the sense of the elected officials in Alberta is that the people would be significantly motivated on that issue."

Liberal activistWarren Kinsella mocked Day's belief inyoung Earth creationism by pulling out aBarney doll during a television interview and stating that "this was the only dinosaur ever to be on Earth with humans". Media covering the Daycampaign bus, nicknamed "Prayer Force One", hummedThe Flintstones theme song to mock the idea that humans and dinosaurs co-existed.^[15]

During the 2000 election, theCBC ran an extended documentary purporting to review Day's religious beliefs. In this documentary the CBC interviewed Professor Pliny Hayes, Chair of the Department of Natural Sciences atRed Deer College, who reported that Day said in a speech at the college that there is scientific proof that the world is about 6,000 years old and that early man co-existed with dinosaurs. Day filed a complaint with the CBC for the fact that he was at no time asked for comment on the matter.^[16]

When subsequently asked by reporters about his beliefs, Day said he didn't think his beliefs "should be used in any kind of detrimental way in an election campaign." Day's spokesman Phil Von Finckenstein said the Alliance believes that other theories of creation should be taught alongside evolution in schools, but he also recognizes education is a provincial jurisdiction.^[17]

The Alliance'sdirect democracy proposals, which would have required a referendum on any proposal supported by a petition signed by three per cent of Canadian voters, were also frequently targeted as a suggestion of a hidden agenda. Some asserted that "special interest" groups would use the low requirements to put contentious subjects to a national referendum. Day himself never did support the threshold, explaining that he would need to consult with Canadians over what the threshold should be.^[18] The proposal was satirized byRick Mercer ofThis Hour Has 22 Minutes, where he proposed a national petition for a referendum to demand that Day change his first name toDoris, which reached the threshold advocated by The Alliance.^[19]

Another gaffe took place when the Day campaign used the hit single "Ordinary Day" byGreat Big Sea at a rally without permission. The band demanded that Day's campaign cease using the song for campaigning purposes.^[20]

Day was also a victim of an incident during the election. When making a "grand entrance" for a speech atConestoga College, activist Julian Ichim splashed him with two litres ofchocolate milk from the front of the stage, saying he did it to protest Day's "homophobic, anti-immigrant and anti-poor agenda".^{[21][22][23][24]} Afterward, again onThis Hour Has 22 Minutes, actressMary Walsh jokingly offered Day chocolate milk, saying: "All they had washomo, and I knew [Day] wouldn't like that."^[25]

Day stumbled during two campaign appearances in the first week. A photo-op at a technology firm meant to illustrate a "brain drain" to the US was undermined when the owner reported that he had movedto Canada from the United States eight years earlier. The next day, atNiagara Falls, Day remarked that Canadian jobs were flowing south "just like theNiagara River", when in fact the river flows north.^[26] In mid-campaign, the Alliance candidate inWinnipeg South Centre,Betty Granger, was quoted as voicing concerns about an "Asian invasion" in Canada. And in the televised leaders' debate, Day held up a handwritten sign saying "NO2-TIER HEALTHCARE" in large letters to counter a newspaper headline inThe Globe and Mail earlier in the campaign. As props were against the rules, he claimed it was his briefing notes. Progressive Conservative leaderJoe Clark retorted, "Mr. Day appears to be running for office as some kind of game show host."^[27] The debate went poorly for Day, with theToronto Star andThe Globe and Mail describing him as "the big loser" of the night.^[28]

At one point, the Alliance was at 30.5 per cent in the polls, and some thought they could win a minority government. On election night, the Alliance increased their seats over Reform totals from 60 to 66 and kept Reform's strong representation in western Canada, but the hoped-for breakthrough inOntario did not occur, with the party electing just two MPs in that province. However, the Alliance increased their overall vote totals by over one million and reduced the Progressive Conservatives to 12 seats in the House of Commons. The Liberals' attacks on Day ended up decimating the NDP and Progressive Conservatives, as many voters who would otherwise have supported those parties votedstrategically for the Liberals to prevent an Alliance victory.^{[citation needed]}

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Further controversies plagued Day following the election. While he had been a government minister in Alberta he wrote a letter to the editor of theRed Deer Advocate in April 1999 in which he criticized Lorne Goddard, a lawyer and Red Deer school trustee, for defending a man accused of possessingchild pornography.^[29] In it he alleged that Goddard himself supported child pornography. When Goddard sued forlibel, the Alberta government covered Day's legal bills. In December, the government lawyers settled out of court, but the legal costs and settlement totalled $792,000. A citizen's fund was set up on behalf of taxpayers to cover the lawyers' charges. Even though thousands of dollars began coming in from across the country, Alberta's Ethics Commissioner ruled that the voluntary fund could not be used. Day was criticized for the costs and eventually re-paid the province $60,000, the settlement amount excluding legal fees. Further controversy ensued in February when it was reported that Bennett Jones, the law firm that had represented Day at taxpayer expense, donated $70,000 to the Canadian Alliance Fund shortly after Day settled. The Alliance launched an internal review that determined that nothing inappropriate had occurred.

In April, it was reported that Day had approved the hiring of a private investigator to dig up dirt to smear theLiberals. After confirming that he had met the man on April 7, Day denied this on the 8th, claiming on the 9th that he had read of the meeting inThe Globe and Mail and had assumed that it was correct. Day later made it clear that he never did hire or approve of the hiring of an investigator.

Given the string of negative stories, many Alliance members became increasingly critical of Day's leadership. In late April, several members of Day'sShadow Cabinet, including deputy leaderDeborah Grey, resigned their posts. In the following months, Grey and eleven other MPs either resigned or were suspended from caucus for criticizing Day. This group, led byChuck Strahl and Grey, formed the "Independent Alliance Caucus" during the summer. Day offered an amnesty, but seven of them turned it down and formed theDemocratic Representative Caucus, led by Strahl and Grey. The DRC entered a short-lived coalition agreement with the Tories, which was seen as an attempt by PC leaderJoe Clark to reunite the Canadian right on his terms.

In the fall of 2001, Day agreed to step aside and re-contest the leadership, and in theMarch 2002 Alliance leadership election, Day was defeated byStephen Harper on the first ballot. As a concession to Day, Harper appointed him as foreign affairs critic. Five of the seven DRC MPs (all exceptInky Mark andJim Pankiw) rejoined the Alliance caucus on April 10.

In March 2003, Day and Harper co-wrote a letter toThe Wall Street Journal in which they condemned the Canadian government's unwillingness to participate in the2003 invasion of Iraq. Day later appeared as a speaker at a "Canadians for Bush" rally in the Niagara region, organized by controversial right-wing ministerTristan Emmanuel.

In December 2003, the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party merged to become theConservative Party of Canada. Day did not run for the leadership of the new party but remained the party's foreign affairs critic. He was re-elected to Parliament in the 2004, 2006, and 2008 elections.

In November 2004, Day provoked controversy by not offering condolences to Palestinians after the death ofPLO leaderYasser Arafat. The controversy was heightened when it was leaked to the media that Day had attempted to justify his actions to his party colleagues by circulating an article byDavid Frum that suggested that Arafat had died of AIDS.^[30]

In March 2007, the federal Liberals accused former Alliance MPJim Hart of having accepted a payment of $50,000 to step aside in favour of Day before the 2000 byelection.^[31] Contacted at his home in theRepublic of Georgia, Hart—in a brief email statement to theCBC—did not deny the allegations or impeach the authenticity of the evidence the Liberals had obtained.^[32] The entire matter was investigated by theRoyal Canadian Mounted Police who found no evidence of wrongdoing.

On March 23, 2008, Stockwell Day signed the Canada-Israel 'Declaration of Intent' on 'public safety' and security cooperation between the two countries, asMinister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. It was co-signed inTel-Aviv by Israel'sMinister of Public Security,Avi Dichter. Months later in May 2008, Day attended and participated in the 1st International Security Forum of Ministers of Interior andHomeland Security inJerusalem.^[33]

In August 2010, Day caused some controversy when he stated the government was "very concerned ... about the increase in the amount of unreported crimes that surveys clearly show are happening".^[34] Critics question the supporting evidence of the minister as data pertaining to unreported crimes for 2009 had not yet been released.^[35]

On March 12, 2011, Day announced that he would not be seeking re-election in the2011 federal election.^[1]

On February 6, 2006, Day was promoted to theMinister of Public Safety in the Conservative government and was sworn into thePrivy Council. When, in May 2008, Israeli Ambassador Alan Baker warned that Canada's Muslim population would influence its policies, Day responded by saying that Canada was proud of its multicultural composition.^[36]

On October 30, 2008, Day was sworn in asMinister of International Trade in the Conservative Government. He was also appointed the Minister for theAsia–Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative.^[37]

Day was appointed president of theTreasury Board by Stephen Harper on January 19, 2010.^[38]

During the controversy over the Harper government's decision to eliminate the mandatory long-form census, Day defended the move by implying that online web searches are as effective as the national census: "We live in an information age where any 12-year-old kid can push any button on the Internet and find out any information he or she wants without threatening a citizen that they're going to go to jail."^[39][40][41]

In March 2011, Day announced that he would not seek re-election in the next federal elections.^[42]

After retiring from politics Day started a government relations firm, called Stockwell Day Connex.^[43] On June 14, 2011, theAsia Pacific Foundation of Canada appointed Day as a Distinguished Fellow and he remained in this role until 2016.^[44] Day also currently holds a position on the board of directors for the Canada China Business Council.^[45] He also previously sat on the boards of theCentre for Israel and Jewish Affairs^[46] and the Canada-India Business Council.^[47]

Day was a member of the board of directors ofTelus Communications and a senior strategic advisor to Canadian law firmMcMillan LLP from 2011 to June 2020, when he resigned from both positions after comments he made onCBC News Network'sPower & Politics amidst theGeorge Floyd protests triggered strong social media reaction including the threat of a boycott of Telus if he did not resign. In the televised debate, Day's comments included deploring themurder of George Floyd, supporting the right of people to protest and opposing the riots and destruction in US cities.^[48][49][50] Day had said thatsystemic racism did not exist in Canada and referenced his experience of being bullied as a child for wearing glasses, suggesting it was the same as having to endure racism. Day noted the difference between the Floyd family asking for the violence to stop with the reaction of a number of celebrities who were not condemning the violence and offering to pay the bill of arrested people. Day also said that while Canada has some "idiot racists", he felt that most Canadians are not racist. Day disagreed with Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau's claim that Canada is a "systematically racist" country, while noting improvements can always be made. Day apologized the next day to those who had been hurt by any of his comments and vowed to continue the fight against racism in all its forms.^[51]

Since October 2021, Day has served as the interim president of theKing's College, a small Christianliberal arts college in New York City, located in the financial district.^[52][53]King's College accepted a $2 million loan from billionaire owner of Primacorp Ventures, Peter Chung, in April 2021. Day has previously worked as a consultant for Chung, and was appointed to the College's executive as part of the deal - a move students and staff raised alarms about at the time. Additionally, Peter Chung's career is rife with investments into institutions that soon afterwards failed - notably,Wilshire Computer College in California, a case in which he refused to pay students of the institution a court-ordered $12 million in compensation. Other failed investments of Chung's includeQuest University in British Columbia (which ceased operations in April 2023) andCDI College across Canada, which has been criticized for falsely advertising its accreditation status and job placement rates.^[54][55]

From 2015 to 2017, Day was a Director at AWZ Ventures, a Canadian private investment company which invests in Israeli cybersecurity, intelligence, and physical security technologies.^[56]

• Official website
• Parliamentary websiteArchived February 7, 2009, at theWayback Machine
• Stockwell Day – Parliament of Canada biography
• How'd They Vote?: Stockwell Day's voting history and quotes
• In Their Own Words: quotations by and about Canada's Conservatives
• Climate quip puts Day on hot seat – Weblog joke gets chilly reception
• Montreal Mirror interview with Day
• The Centre For Israel and Jewish Affairs website

• 1950 births
• Ashbury College alumni
• Canadian Alliance MPs
• Canadian Pentecostals
• Christian creationists
• Conservative Party of Canada MPs
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• Members of the 28th Canadian Ministry
• Members of the House of Commons of Canada from British Columbia
• Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada
• People from Barrie
• People from Penticton
• Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta MLAs
• Members of the Executive Council of Alberta
• University of Victoria alumni
• 20th-century members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta
• 21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada

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