Don Davies

Don Davies MP (born January 16, 1963) is a Canadian federal Member of Parliament (MP) for the New Democratic Party, representing the riding of Vancouver Kingsway since his election in the 2008 federal election. After the 2015 election, Davies was named the NDP critic for Health in the 42nd Parliament.

Don Davies LLB BA MP
Shadow Critic for Health
Incumbent
Assumed office October 19, 2015
Leader	Tom Mulcair Jagmeet Singh
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Vancouver Kingsway
Incumbent
Assumed office October 14, 2008
Preceded by	David Emerson
Personal details
Born	(1963-01-16) January 16, 1963 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Political party	New Democratic Party
Residence	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Alma mater	University of Alberta
Profession	Lawyer

Life and career

Davies was born in Edmonton, Alberta. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science and a Bachelor of Laws at the University of Alberta.[1] After gaining admission to the Alberta Bar, Davies was employed as a researcher at the Alberta Legislature and then executive assistant for policy and communications to Ray Martin, leader of the Official Opposition of Alberta from 1989 to 1991.[1]

Davies and his family moved to Vancouver in 1991. In 1992 he became the director of Legal Services for Teamsters Canada (Local 31), a position he held until his election to the House of Commons in 2008. In this capacity, Davies represented workers and the union at arbitration panels and before both provincial and federal labour tribunals.[1]

Davies also served on numerous public bodies to improve occupational health and safety and deliver more efficient regulatory systems in the transportation sector. He was chair of the Mount Pleasant Parent Advisory Council and serves as secretary-treasurer of the Meridian Cultural Society, providing public space for childcare, church and cultural events.[1]

Davies has been active with many community organizations, including Tools for Peace, Vancouver Co-op Radio, Lawyers for Social Responsibility, La Quena Cooperative, and the Dickens Community Group.[1] He has also been a local hockey coach, and enjoys playing the violin.

A long-time resident of the Kensington neighbourhood in the Vancouver Kingsway riding, Davies is married to Sheryl Palm, a speech language pathologist at Vancouver Children's Hospital. They have three children and a granddaughter.[1]

Federal politics

Davies was first elected during the 2008 federal election. He received 15,933 votes, winning the riding by almost 3,000 votes over his nearest competitor. Davies was re-elected in the 2011 election, receiving over 50 percent of the votes cast and winning by 10,300 votes over his nearest competitor. In 2015, he was re-elected for his third term, receiving 46 percent of the vote and leading his nearest competitor by over 8,000 votes. Davies was re-elected in the 2019 federal election, obtaining 49 percent of the vote, and leading his nearest competitor by over 11,000 votes. This makes him the longest-serving MP in the history of the Vancouver Kingsway riding and the first MP to ever win the riding four times.[2]

In the 40th Parliament, Davies served as NDP critic for Public Safety and National Security, vice-chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security and deputy critic for Western Diversification. In the 41st Parliament, Davies served as Official Opposition critic for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, and vice-chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, and then as Official Opposition critic for International Trade, deputy critic for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, and vice-chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade.[1] A member of a number of parliamentary groups, he serves on the executives of the Canada–China, Canada–Philippines, and Canada–Europe Parliamentary Associations, and is a Canadian parliamentary delegate to the Council of Europe.[1]

In the 42nd Parliament, Davies introduced more private member's legislation than any other MP in Canada.[3] This legislation included bills to establish universal pharmacare, a national school nutrition program, and free tuition for students with diverse needs. In the 43rd Parliament, Davies was re-appointed to the Health portfolio. He serves on the Standing Committee on Health and was appointed to the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians. Davies has maintained a stance against the extradition of Meng Wanzhou since her arrest in Vancouver in 2018, claiming political interference in the case by U.S. president Donald Trump.[4][5]

Electoral record

2019 Canadian federal election: Vancouver Kingsway
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Don Davies	21,680	49.1	+3.36
	Liberal	Tamara Taggart	10,194	23.1	-4.71
	Conservative	Helen Quan	8,804	19.9	-1.11
	Green	Lawrence Taylor	2,675	6.1	+2.85
	People's	Ian Torn	427	1.0	–
	Communist	Kimball Cariou	292	0.7	-0.28
	Marxist–Leninist	Donna Peterson	91	0.2	+0.02
Total valid votes/Expense limit			44,163	100.0
Total rejected ballots			446
Turnout			44,609	59.4
Eligible voters			75,050
	New Democratic hold		Swing		+4.035
Source: Elections Canada[6][7]

2015 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Don Davies	20,763	45.74	-4.38	–
	Liberal	Steven Kou	12,625	27.81	+11.16	–
	Conservative	Jojo Quimpo	9,538	21.01	-7.09	–
	Green	Catherine Moore	1,476	3.25	-0.52	–
	Libertarian	Matt Kadioglu	468	1.03	+0.44	–
	Communist	Kimball Cariou	445	0.98	+0.51	–
	Marxist–Leninist	Donna Petersen	81	0.18	+0.01	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			–	100.00%		$203,203.67
Total rejected ballots			471	–	–
Turnout			45,867	64.41	+6.31
Eligible voters			71,206
Source: Elections Canada[8][9]

2011 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Don Davies	23,457	50.08	+14.88%	–
	Conservative	Trang Nguyen	13,157	28.09	+.66%	–
	Liberal	Wendy Yuan	7,796	16.64	-12.38%	–
	Green	Louise Boutin	1,860	3.97	-2.73%	–
	Libertarian	Matt Kadioglu	275	0.59	-11.0%	–	–
	Communist	Kimball Cariou	220	0.47	-24.3%	–	–
	Marxist–Leninist	Donna Peterson	78	0.17	-47.6%	–	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			-	100.00%	–

2008 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Don Davies	15,933	35.20%	+1.7%	$81,501
	Liberal	Wendy Yuan	13,164	29.02%	-14.4%	$79,758
	Conservative	Salomon Rayek	12,419	27.43%	+8.64%	$70,829
	Green	Doug Warkentin	3,031	6.7%	+3.87%	$3,478
	Libertarian	Matt Kadioglu	309	0.68%	+0.09%	--
	Communist	Kimball Cariou	291	0.64%	+0.29%	$391
	Marxist–Leninist	Donna Peterson	149	0.33%	+0.19%
Total valid votes/Expense limit			45,296	100.00%	$84,758
Total rejected ballots			328
Turnout			45,624

References

1. "About Don". Don Davies Vancouver Kingsway. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
2. Kurucz, John (October 21, 2019). "NDP's Don Davies makes history as longest-serving MP for Vancouver-Kingsway". Vancouver Courier. Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
3. Aiello, Rachel. "Meet NDP MP Don Davies, the MP with the most private members' bills introduced in the House and zero chance of passing one". www.hilltimes.com. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
4. Zimonjic, Peter; Kapelos, Vassy (December 21, 2018). "Jagmeet Singh rejects his own MP's call to halt extradition of Huawei executive to U.S." CBC News. Archived from the original on December 21, 2018. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
5. Nuttall, Jeremy (January 20, 2020). "Meng Wanzhou extradition case tainted by U.S. political interests, says NDP MP at Chinese consulate event". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on January 21, 2020. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
6. "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
7. "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
8. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Vancouver Kingsway, 30 September 2015
9. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived August 15, 2015, at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Don Davies - Member of Parliament Website
• Don Davies – Parliament of Canada biography