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Herb's Biography
On
January 15, 2002, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien announced the appointment of
Herb Dhaliwal, M.P., as Minister of Natural Resources and political minister for
British Columbia.
Herb
Dhaliwal was born in Chiheru, Punjab
in 1952, and came to Canada
at age six with his family, not speaking a word of English. He grew up in
Vancouver South-Burnaby and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the
University of British Columbia in 1977, where he was active in student politics.
Following his graduation from
university, Mr. Dhaliwal
started a small business in the basement of his house Â- this one-man building
maintenance company eventually expanded to employ 500 people in various
enterprises. He has held, he says,
every job you can think of, from gas jockey to taxi driver.
Prior to entering politics, Mr.
DhaliwalÂ's career as a small businessman and entrepreneur spanned more than 25
years in the private and public sectors, specializing in transportation,
maintenance, and real estate development. As an entrepreneur, he held the
position of vice-chair on the Board of Directors for the British Columbia Hydro
and Power Authority and of chair on British Columbia Hydro's Budget and Audit
Committees.
Mr. Dhaliwal was first elected to
the House of Commons in 1993, representing the federal riding of Vancouver
South. As Member of Parliament, he was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister
of Fisheries and Oceans and served on the Steering Committee on Fisheries and
Oceans and the Standing Committees on Finance and Fisheries and Oceans.
He was designated vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Health and the
Task Force on Aquaculture, and chair of the British Columbia Liberal Caucus and
the Northern and Western Liberal Caucus.
In 1996, Mr. Dhaliwal played an
active and prominent role as a member of the Prime Minister's Team Canada trade
mission to India. Mr. Dhaliwal led
the Canadian observer presence for presidential elections to the Dominican
Republic; and he has taken part in parliamentary delegations to Cuba and to
UNESCO in New York City. He
participated and addressed the International Parliamentary Union Conference in
Beijing, China, which resulted in the acceptance of the Canadian delegationÂ's
resolution banning the use of anti-personnel land mines.
In 1997, Mr. Dhaliwal was
re-elected in the re-distributed riding of Vancouver South-Burnaby and appointed
as Minister of National Revenue where he served until August 1999. Under Mr.
DhaliwalÂ's leadership at Revenue Canada, the federal department was
restructured and re-named the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA) to better
serve the public, Canada's business community, and the provinces and
territories. In
1998, as Minister of National Revenue, Mr. Dhaliwal accompanied CanadaÂ's then
Governor General, Roméo LeBlanc, on his state visit to India.
This state visit was the first-ever made to India by a Governor General.
On
August 3rd, 1999, Mr. Dhaliwal was appointed Minister of Fisheries
and Oceans and he was re-elected for a
third consecutive time in November 2000. As
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Mr. Dhaliwal led the ratification of the
United Nations Fish Agreement in 30 countries around the globe, and took an
active role in promoting oceans preservation Â- he appointed a Ministerial
Oceans Advisory Committee; in 2001 he instituted an annual international
conference on Oceans Stewardship in Vancouver; in the same year he chaired the
Ministerial Section of the UN Environment Program Meeting, where more than 100
countries were represented, for the Global Programme of Action for the
Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA); and he
attended the Oceans and Coasts Conference at Rio + 10
in Paris.
Mr. Dhaliwal also took an active
and prominent role in promoting sustainable, environmentally responsible
aquaculture development in Canada. As
a recognition of his contribution, the Canadian Aquaculture Industry created the
Herb Dhaliwal Sustainable Aquaculture Award.
Mr. Dhaliwal has the rare
distinction of being the first South Asian to hold a Ministerial position
anywhere in a Western democracy. In
June 2000, Mr. Dhaliwal was included in the Vancouver
Sun's listing as one of the hundred most influential British Columbians of
the last 100 years. He
spearheaded the creation of a commemorative postage stamp to celebrate and
honour 100 years of Sikhs in Canada, in conjunction with the tercentenary
of the Khalsa in April 1999.
Mr. DhaliwalÂ's interests
include golfing, skiing, travelling, reading, jogging and tennis.
His travels have taken him to many parts of the world.
He is married to Amrit and they have three children: Andrea, Justin, and Jessica.