Herb Gray

Herbert Eser Gray, politician (born 25 May 1931 in Windsor, ON; died 21 April 2014 in Ottawa, ON). He graduated from the School of Commerce of McGill University and Osgoode Law School, Toronto, and is a member of the Ontario Bar. He has represented a Windsor constituency in Parliament since 1962. A prominent Liberal nationalist, in 1969 he was the first Jew to be appointed to Cabinet. He gained attention through his report on foreign ownership, tabled in 1972 when he was minister of national revenue.

Though not re-appointed to Cabinet after the 1974 election, he became minister of industry, trade and commerce in 1980 and was president of the Treasury Board until the defeat of the Liberal government in 1984. He was Opposition leader in the House of Commons (1984-89) and deputy leader of the Opposition (1989-90). After John Turner resigned as Liberal leader, Gray served as Leader of the Opposition from February 1990 to January 1991. From 1991 to 1993 he was finance critic for the Official Opposition and a vocal critic of the free trade agreement with the US. When the Jean Chrétien government took office in 1993, the bilingual Gray was appointed Government House Leader and Solicitor General of Canada. In 1996 he was treated for cancer of the esophagus, but carried on his duties on a reduced basis. After the election of 1997, Chrétien named him deputy prime minister in recognition of his long service, shrewd political sense and low-key parliamentary skills. In September 1997 he received additional responsibility for planning and co-ordinating the federal government's efforts to mark the new millenium.