George Abbott

George Abbott (born November 17, 1952 ) is a former politician and cabinet minister for the Canadian province of British Columbia. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, representing the riding of Shuswap from 1996 to 2013. As part of the British Columbia Liberal Party caucus, he served in several cabinet posts under premiers Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark, and ran for party leadership in 2011.

Early life and career Born in Enderby, Abbott grew up in the Shuswap community of Sicamous and attended the Okanagan College's Salmon Arm campus before transferring to the University of British Columbia, where he received his Bachelor of Arts. He then enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Victoria (UVic), completed an intern program at the provincial legislature and graduated with a Master of Arts in political science in 1978.

Provincial politics Opposition and Campbell ministry Abbott ran for the BC Liberals in the 1996 provincial election, and was elected member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Shuswap with less than 35% of the vote. As minister, Abbott worked with the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) to pass the Community Charter. He was later awarded a lifetime membership in UBCM for his work on the file.

Abbott became Minister of Sustainable Resource Management on January 26, 2004.

After the 2005 election, Abbot was appointed Minister of Health. Abbott enshrined the five principles of the Canada Health Act, plus a sixth – the principle of sustainability – in provincial law. He also pushed for innovation in the health system and introduced the $100-million Health Innovation Fund, which funded pilot projects to reduce wait times in emergency rooms and for elective surgeries.

Following the 2009 election, he became Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation and Haida Gwaii, and signed a final agreement with the Yale First Nation. He served in these roles until October 25, 2010, when he was named Minister of Education. During the campaign he stated he would move the date of the harmonized sales tax referendum from September 24, 2011, to no later than June 24 of that year, and increase the minimum wage. He called for a review or the $6 million payment made for expenses incurred by convicted Liberal aides Robert Virk and David Basi in association with the BC Rail trial. However, he refused to call for a full public inquiry in the alleged scandal involving allegations of bribes to Liberal party insiders. He placed third in the leadership election, which was won by Christy Clark.

Clark ministry On March 14, 2011, Abbott was appointed minister of education, as a part of Clark's initial cabinet.

On August 30, 2012, Abbott announced he would not be running in the 2013 election. He remained education minister until September 5, 2012.

Post-politics In 2013, Abbott re-enrolled at the University of Victoria, where he began writing a thesis on the impact of the federal–provincial division of powers on aboriginal policy. On November 22, 2013, it was announced that Abbott would teach a course on BC's political economy at UVic. He received his PhD in 2019.

In 2015, Premier Clark and her cabinet vetoed the appointment of Abbott to be Chief Treaty Commissioner of BC Treaty Commission due to her government aiming to reform the treaty process. Abbott had been working on transition with the departing commission chief and his removal was criticized by First Nations. In 2015, Abbott revealed that he had let his party membership lapse and considered himself non-partisan. He stressed that it was not a decision made by any "single thing", but several factors that lead him to be unhappy with the party.

Election results NDP Steve Gunner

Conservative Beryl Ludwig

NDP Wayne Fowler

No Affiliation Jeanette (N.O.) McLennan

NDP Calvin White

No Affiliation Gordon Campbell

Independent Merv Ritchie