*** Welcome to piglix ***

Mike de Jong

The Honourable
Mike de Jong
QC MLA
Minister of Finance of British Columbia
Assumed office
September 5, 2012
Premier Christy Clark
Preceded by Kevin Falcon
Minister of Forests of British Columbia
In office
June 5, 2001 – June 16, 2005
Premier Gordon Campbell
Preceded by Gordon Wilson
Succeeded by Rich Coleman
Minister of Labour and Citizens' Services of British Columbia
In office
June 16, 2005 – August 15, 2006
Premier Gordon Campbell
Preceded by Graham Bruce
Succeeded by Olga Ilich
Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation of British Columbia
In office
August 15, 2006 – June 10, 2009
Premier Gordon Campbell
Preceded by Tom Christensen
Succeeded by George Abbott
Attorney General of British Columbia
In office
June 10, 2009 – December 1, 2010
Premier Gordon Campbell
Preceded by Wally Oppal
Succeeded by Barry Penner
Solicitor General of British Columbia
In office
April 9, 2010 – October 25, 2010
Premier Gordon Campbell
Preceded by Kash Heed
Succeeded by Rich Coleman
Minister of Health of British Columbia
In office
March 14, 2011 – September 5, 2012
Premier Christy Clark
Preceded by Colin Hansen
Succeeded by Margaret MacDiarmid
Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly
for Abbotsford West
Abbotsford-Mount Lehman (2001-2009)
Matsqui (1994-2001)
Assumed office
February 17, 1994
Preceded by Peter Albert Dueck
Personal details
Born 1963/1964 (age 52–53)
Political party Liberal

Mike de Jong, Q.C. (born 1963 or 1964) is a provincial politician and cabinet minister from British Columbia, Canada.

De Jong was born to Dutch parents who immigrated to Canada after Canadian soldiers liberated The Netherlands in World War II. At age eight, he and his family moved to a farm in the District of Matsqui in British Columbia. He attended Abbotsford's last single-room elementary school and worked as farm labourer as an early teen.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton University in Ottawa and a law degree from the University of Alberta.

After graduating from law school, De Jong returned to Matsqui to set up a law practice and was elected at age 26 as one of Canada's youngest school board members.

In 1994, De Jong was recruited by Gordon Campbell of the British Columbia Liberal Party to compete against new Social Credit Party leader Grace McCarthy in a byelection in Matsqui.

The Socreds had represented the riding for 42 years until De Jong defeated McCarthy by a margin of 42 votes.

McCarthy had been attempting to rebuild the province's governing political party. Shortly after the loss, McCarthy resigned as Social Credit Party leader, and the party failed to elect any members in the subsequent provincial election in 1996.

De Jong was re-elected in the 1996, 2001, and 2005 elections in the new riding of Abbotsford-Mount Lehman, and in the newly created riding of Abbotsford West in the 2009 election.


...
Wikipedia

...