Ed Fast

Early life and career

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Ed Fast moved to and grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia. After graduating from law school at the University of British Columbia in 1982, Fast co-founded the law firm currently known as Linley Welwood. He was elected in 1985 and served two terms as an Abbotsford School Board Trustee. He was elected to Abbotsford City Council in 1996 and served for three 3-year terms. During that time, he served as Deputy Mayor and as Chair of the Parks, Recreation & Culture Commission.

Federal politics

In government

Fast won the 2006 federal election with 63.27% of the vote as the MP for Abbotsford on January 23, 2006. During his first term, Fast was appointed to the Standing Committee of Canadian Heritage and the Standing Committee for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. Fast was also the Chair of the B.C. Conservative caucus.

In 2006, Fast introduced Private Member's Bill C-277 which doubles from 5 to 10 years in prison the maximum sentence for luring a child over the internet for sexual purposes. The Bill received royal assent on June 22, 2007. Only 2% of private member's bills are ever passed into law.

In the 2008 federal election, Fast received 30,853 votes, 63.3% of the total in Abbotsford. He served as the Chair of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights and as a member of the Copyright Modernization Committee. In May 2009, Fast introduced a motion in the House of Commons to rename the Huntingdon border crossing to "Abbotsford-Huntingdon Port of Entry". The official renaming took place on May 28, 2010, preserving the historical significance of the "Huntingdon" name while at the same time more accurately reflecting the location of the border crossing within the Fraser Valley.

From 2009 to 2011, Fast was the Chair of the Standing Committee on Justice & Human Rights.

Minister of International Trade

Fast was re-elected in the 2011 federal election with 32,493 votes, representing 65% of the popular vote. On May 18, 2011, Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Ed Fast to Cabinet to serve as Canada's Minister of International Trade.

Fast oversaw the negotiations for the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union, which some saw as a giveaway to big pharma. As part of the newly-elected Liberal government in 2015, Fast's immediate successor Chrystia Freeland one year later finalized the negotiations which had been ongoing since 2009.

Fast was also responsible for the Canada-China Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments Agreement, which was signed in 2012 and came into force on 1 October 2014. This agreement ties Canada "to the terms... for a minimum of 31 years."

On 3 December 2014 Fast announced that the Canada–Korea Free Trade Agreement (CKFTA), Canada's first free trade agreement in the Asia–Pacific region, had received royal assent.

In November 2013, Fast announced the Government of Canada's Global Markets Action Plan, a plan focusing on "Canada's core strengths in priority markets through bold trade policy and vigorous trade promotion". He also released Canada's first International Education Strategy, a part of the Global Markets Action Plan, in order to attract international talent. The CBIE termed it an "ambitious strategy, with a goal to double the number of international students choosing to study here (in Canada) by 2022."

On 9 April 2014, rising on a point of order, New Democratic Party MP Dan Harris accused Fast of making a gun gesture and saying "boom" in the direction of another New Democrat, Niki Ashton, during Question Period. Fast denied the claim and asserted that he was pointing in the direction of Andrew Scheer, the Speaker of the House of Commons. Video from the House of Commons shows Fast making a pointing gesture. After the video circulated, Minister Fast acknowledged that he had made a pointing gesture with his hand, but said that his hand gesture was misinterpreted.

Social Issues

Abortion

Ed Fast is anti-abortion. Fast voted in support of Bill C-233 - An Act to amend the Criminal Code (sex-selective abortion), which would restrict abortion access, making it a criminal offence for a medical practitioner to perform an abortion sought solely on the grounds of the child's genetic sex. Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada describes him as an anti-abortion MP.

Conversion therapy

On June 22, 2021, Fast was one of 63 MPs to vote against Bill C-6, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (conversion therapy), which was passed by majority vote, making certain aspects of conversion therapy a crime, including "causing a child to undergo conversion therapy."

In opposition

42nd Canadian Parliament

Following the Harper government's defeat in 2015, Fast served in the shadow cabinets of Rona Ambrose and Andrew Scheer as the critic to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

43rd Canadian Parliament

After being re-elected in 2019, Fast declined reappointment to Scheer's shadow cabinet. Scheer was later removed from leadership and replaced by Erin O'Toole, who on 11 February 2021 appointed Fast as his Finance critic. He replaced Pierre Poilievre who became critic for Jobs and Industry.

44th Canadian Parliament

Fast was for a brief time a member of the Industry and Technology committee, before he was appointed on 28 February 2022 by new interim CPC leader Candice Bergen to the Finance committee. He resigned as Shadow Finance Minister after criticizing Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre's plan to fire Bank of Canada director Tiff Macklem, if elected.

Personal life

Ed and his wife Annette have lived in Abbotsford for over 43 years and have four adult daughters and fifteen grandchildren. In December 2016, Fast suffered a stroke, but recovered.

Electoral record

References

References

1. "Official Voting Results". Elections Canada.
2. "LEGISinfo 39th Parliament - 1st Session". .parl.gc.ca.
3. "Ed Fast, Conservative MP for Abbotsford". openparliament.ca.
4. "Member of Parliament Profile". webinfo.parl.gc.ca.
5. "Canada Border Services Agency". cbsa-asfc.gc.ca.
6. "JUST - Home - House of Commons of Canada".
7. link. (2014-08-05 , www.international.gc.ca, Retrieved 2014-08-11)
8. (October 18, 2013). "Opening New Markets in Europe". actionplan.gc.ca.
9. (2014). "CETA: A win for Canada or European pharma?". Canadian Medical Association Journal.
10. Wells, Paul. (7 November 2016). "Freeland 'visibly moved' during CETA negotiations: Wells". Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd.
11. Brown, Patrick. (19 September 2014). "FIPA agreement with China: What's really in it for Canada?". CBC.
12. Bleyer, Gabe. (30 April 2020). "Canadian Conservative Leadership Race: Frontrunners Target China". McGill Journal of Political Studies.
13. (11 March 2014). "Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement (CKFTA)".
14. (November 27, 2013). "Tories' new foreign-affairs vision shifts focus to 'economic diplomacy'". The Globe and Mail.
15. link. (2016-10-21 , international.gc.ca, Retrieved 2014-08-11)
16. (2014). "A WORLD OF LEARNING 2014 CANADA'S PERFORMANCE AND POTENTIAL IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION". The Canadian Bureau for International Education.
17. (9 April 2014). "Tory Minister Ed Fast Accused Of Making 'Gun' Gesture At NDP MP". huffingtonpost.ca.
18. "Tory Minister Ed Fast accused of threatening NDP MP after making 'gun' gesture in House of Commons". nationalpost.ca.
19. "Trade Minister Ed Fast accused of making 'gun' gesture at NDP MP Niki Ashton". cbc.ca.
20. "The House of Commons the Smoking Gun Video". CPAC.
21. House of Commons. (June 2, 2021). "2nd reading of Bill C-233, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (sex-selective abortion)".
22. ARCC. (June 27, 2022). "Members of Parliament with an Anti-choice Stance".
23. House of Commons. "3rd reading and adoption of Bill C-6, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (conversion therapy)".
24. (11 February 2021). "O'Toole shuffles Conservative caucus roles, moving Poilievre out as finance critic". National Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.
25. "ROLES - HON. ED FAST". Parliament of Canada.
26. (18 May 2022). "Ed Fast out as Tory finance critic after criticizing leadership candidate Poilievre".
27. "Ed Fast, Member of Parliament for Abbotsford". edfast.ca.
28. (December 13, 2016). "MP Ed Fast suffers stroke, expected to make full recovery". CTVNews.