The Hon. David Collenette, P.C., O.Ont., LL. D, F.C.I.L.T. was born in London, UK. His family emigrated to Canada in 1957 and settled in Toronto where he was educated in the public school system, graduating from East York Collegiate Institute in 1965.
His determination to pursue studies in both of Canada’s official languages led him to Glendon College, the bilingual campus of York University.
He graduated in 1969 with a BA (Hons) in political science. Subsequently, he received an MA in political science in 2004 from York and an LL. D in 2015, for recognition of a lifetime of public service. He became a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, (CILT) in 2009, and a member of the Order of Ontario in 2023. He is the recipient of the Queen’s Jubilee Medal, 1977, the Canada 125 Medal 1992, the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal 2002, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal 2012 and the King Charles III Medal 2024.
As a teenager, David developed a great interest in politics and national unity during the Quiet Revolution in Quebec. He became active in student politics, was a founder of the York University Liberal Club and was elected as an alternate delegate to the 1968 Liberal leadership convention in support of Pierre Elliot Trudeau. His lifelong involvement in the Liberal Party of Canada was reflected as a campaign worker, campaign manager or candidate in every federal election since 1962. David has also volunteered in provincial and municipal elections over the decades.
Unexpectedly, in 1974, David became the Liberal standard bearer in his home constituency of York East and was elected at the very young age of twenty-eight. In Parliament he quickly became knowledgeable about parliamentary procedure; a strong champion for French language rights, including the right to use French in air communications, supporting the Association des gens de l’air; and he became a respected voice on transportation policy as Vice-Chair of the Transport Committee from 1974-1979.
During the constitutional debates of the early 1980’s, as Parliamentary Secretary to the Government House Leader he worked closely with Justice Minister Jean Chretien and government officials on parliamentary strategy to ensure Patriation of the Canadian Constitution. At one point, David was assigned by the government to Westminster to represent Canada’s interests in discussions with the British government and members of the House of Commons and House of Lords. He was proud to be a strong supporter of and vote for, the Constitution Act 1982 together with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In August 1983 Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau appointed David, Minister of State (Multiculturalism). He was subsequently reappointed to the post by Prime Minister John Turner. His most proud accomplishment in the portfolio was authoring a white paper, Equality Now which changed the focus of Canada’s multiculturalism policy towards racial equality. This reflected David’s personal values as well as the change in Canada’s demographics which was particularly evident in his diverse Toronto constituency.
After defeat in 1984, John Turner asked David to become Secretary General of the Liberal Party of Canada, a position he held for two and a half years as the party rebuilt its organization. He then spent several years in the private sector and worked in a volunteer capacity for the National Democratic Institute, Washington, D.C. where he was involved in democratic development projects and election monitoring in Haiti, Chile, Romania, and the Czech Republic. Upon leaving elected politics in 2004 he resumed his association with NDI and served as Co-Leader of its observer mission to the controversial Ukrainian presidential run-off election on November 21st, 2004; as Co-Leader of the parliamentary election’s assessment mission for Pakistan in May 2007; and Co-Leader of the municipal election’s assessment mission for Ukraine in October 2010.
In the 1984 and 1990 Liberal leadership contests David was a key member of the team for Jean Chretien. He chose to pursue his business career so did not run in the 1988 federal election but returned to Parliament in 1993. He was appointed by Prime Minister Chretien to several portfolios: Minister of National Defense; Minister of Veterans Affairs; Minister of Transport, and Minister of Crown Corporations. He also was assigned political responsibilities as Minister for the Greater Toronto Area.
At National Defence, David oversaw the reorganization, restructuring and reengineering of the department as the government confronted the severe financial deficit and was the author of the highly regarded 1994 Defence White Paper. During this period, the Canadian Forces were involved in challenging assignments in the Balkans, Rwanda, and Haiti, as well as confronting the troubling issues relating to the earlier deployment to Somalia. David also worked closely with his American and German counterparts, William Perry and Volker Ruehe, on the Partnership for Peace initiative which led to former Warsaw Pact nations joining NATO. As minister he also took pride in serving as Chancellor of the Royal Military College of Canada.
At Transport, David authored a major policy document, Straight Ahead, which charted a course for Canadian transportation policy over the next decade. He also initiated several legislative changes, including the Canada Marine Act and amendments to the Competition Act which led to the restructuring of the Canadian airline industry, with the merger of Air Canada and Canadian Airlines International.
Perhaps the most challenging period of his career was overseeing Canada’s response to the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, and the subsequent issues related to transportation security. On his direction under authority of the Aeronautics Act, the skies over Canada and the Canadian administered portion of the Atlantic Ocean were closed to all commercial and private air traffic. In the space of a few hours, 226 wide-bodied jets with 33,000 passengers were ordered to land at Canadian airports, mainly in the less populated areas of the east coast. In the following days, weeks, and months as Vice-Chair of the cabinet Committee on Security he worked with his cabinet colleagues, the U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, the FAA, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the newly created Department of Homeland Security to revise transportation security policies and regulations.
David served as Regional Minister for the Greater Toronto Area, 1996-2003 and in 2000-2003, he had carriage of federal infrastructure funding for the region that resulted in the largest single expansion of cultural institutions in Canadian history at the Royal Ontario Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, the National Ballet School, the Royal Conservatory of Music, the Roy Thompson Hall, and the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art. He also initiated the second tranche of infrastructure funding for $1 billion towards major GO Transit improvements and promoted the concept of a rail link between Pearson Airport and downtown Toronto. Under his leadership, planning, acquisition of property and a Solicitation of Interest for this project was implemented. The highly successful link was subsequently built by Metrolinx and opened in 2016. His vision in conceiving the project and his contribution to the initial planning phase was acknowledged by Premier Kathleen Wynne at the official opening of the service.
After more than twenty years in Parliament, including eleven years in cabinet under three prime ministers, David did not seek re-election in 2004. He launched a business career as advisor to Canadian and US companies in the transportation, defence, and geospatial technology industries as well as in the public sector with GO Transit (Metrolinx) and AMT (L’Agence metropolitaine de transports) where he was chief negotiator for the Agency with Canadian Pacific Railway, 2008-2012. From 2008-2021 he was also Senior Counsel with Hill+Knowlton Strategies, part of WCC, the world’s largest communications, public affairs, and public relations company.
Over the years in private life, he has been involved with academic work in both English and French at the domestic and international levels. While still a minister, David received permission from the Ethics Councillor to serve as a member of the International Advisory Council, Institute of International Studies, Stanford University, California, 1999-2005. Its membership included many prominent former political leaders and afforded him the opportunity to interact with many gifted students.
As Distinguished Fellow, Glendon College, York University (2004-2010), David conducted lectures and seminars in both Official Languages. He continued his lectures as Distinguished Fellow, Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) from 2012 to 2014. In 2020 he was named, Senior Fellow at the Bill Graham Centre, Trinity College, University of Toronto.
In addition to involvement over the years with the National Democratic Institute, David has been immersed in volunteer work for Canada’s not-for-profit sector. In 2020 he was elected Chair of the NATO Association of Canada which is dedicated to the promotion of peace, prosperity and security through knowledge and understanding of the importance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A particular focus of the Association’s work involves interaction with young people and university students. David’s responsibilities during the difficult times of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine sees him regularly engaged in advocacy via the media, and virtual discussions and conferences in North America and Europe.
David is Vice-President and Secretary of Harbourfront Corporation (Toronto) an innovative cultural organization providing internationally renowned programming in the arts, culture, education, and recreation in the heart of Toronto’s waterfront for over fifty years. It is also one of the City’s top ten tourist venues.
David is a past Chair and currently Director Emeritus of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (North America). He is former Vice-President, CILT International. CILT is the world’s premier logistics and transport association with more than 30,000 members, committed to professional development and education.
In 2007 upon the invitation of Mayor Larry O’Brien, David served as the volunteer Chair of the Mayor of Ottawa’s Citizens’ Task Force on Transportation which produced a landmark report, Moving Ottawa. Its key recommendations, including the building of a transit tunnel under downtown Ottawa, were adopted by Ottawa City Council with the building of the new light rail system in the nation’s capital, although he had no subsequent involvement in the project.
He served as Special Advisor on High-Speed Rail to the Government of Ontario, 2015-18 issuing a report, High Speed Rail in Ontario. David is recognized as a leading proponent of passenger rail in Canada and, was a supporter of restoration of the Ontario Northlander which is now under way.
Over the past forty years David has written numerous articles on parliamentary reform, overseas democratic development, transportation, and defence for several publications, including The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, The Ottawa Citizen and Macleans magazine.
David Collenette is bilingual (English and French)