David Berger (Canadian politician)

David Berger (born March 30, 1950) is a Canadian lawyer, politician, diplomat, and sports executive.

David Berger
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Laurier
In office 1979–1988
Preceded by	Fernand-E. Leblanc
Succeeded by	District was abolished in 1987
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Saint-Henri—Westmount
In office 1988–1994
Preceded by	Don Johnston
Succeeded by	Lucienne Robillard
Personal details
Born	March 30, 1950 Ottawa, Ontario
Political party	Liberal
Relations	Sam Berger (father)

He was born in Ottawa, Ontario, the eldest son of Sam Berger.[1] He attended Ashbury College before receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1971 from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Civil Law in 1975 from McGill University. From 1975 to 1979, he was an Executive Vice-President for the Montreal Alouettes Football Club. From 1978 to 1979, he was President of the Canadian Football League.[2] He was elected to the House of Commons of Canada for the riding of Laurier in the 1979 federal election. A Liberal, he was re-elected four more times in 1980, 1984, 1988, and 1993 (in the riding of Saint-Henri—Westmount). In 1982, he was the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of State (Small Businesses and Tourism). From 1982 to 1984, he was the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs.[3] He resigned in 1994 after being appointed the Canadian ambassador to Israel and was at the same time High Commissioner of Canada to Cyprus.[4][5] Berger served until 1999 and was replaced by Michael Dougall Bell. He backed Stéphane Dion at the 2006 Liberal Party of Canada leadership convention.[6]

Electoral record (partial)

1993 Canadian federal election: Saint-Henri—Westmount
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	David Berger	25,940	61.72	$46,505
	Bloc Québécois	Eugenia Romain	7,950	18.92	$10,686
	Progressive Conservative	Alain Perez	4,507	10.72	$43,910
	New Democratic Party	Ann Elbourne	1,662	3.95	$2,453
	National	Louise Pilon	581	1.38	$1,697
	Natural Law	Allan Faguy	558	1.33	$20,006
	Non-Affiliated	Mark E.A. Roper	259	0.62	$1,672
	Commonwealth	Normand Bélanger	131	0.31	$0
	Christian Heritage	Robert Adams	125	0.30	$38
	Independent	Rudolph Scalzo	122	0.29	$1,282
	Marxist–Leninist	Arnold August	114	0.27	$80
	Abolitionist	Robert Carlisle	80	0.19	$0
Total valid votes			42,029	100.00
Total rejected ballots			867
Turnout			42,896	74.61
Electors on the lists			57,491
Source: Thirty-fifth General Election, 1993: Official Voting Results, Published by the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada. Financial figures taken from official contributions and expenses provided by Elections Canada.

1984 Canadian federal election: Laurier
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	David Berger	9,302	34.58
	Progressive Conservative	Roland Gagné	7,720	28.70
	New Democratic	Jean-Pierre Juneau	4,595	17.08
	Rhinoceros	François Yo Gourd	3,247	12.07
	Parti nationaliste	Jean Saint-Amour	906	3.37
	Green	Robert Silverman	751	2.79
	Social Credit	Gilles Côté	194	0.72
	Communist	Brian O'Keefe	130	0.48
	Commonwealth of Canada	Jean Langevin	53	0.20
Total valid votes			26,898	100.00
Total rejected ballots			460
Turnout			27,358	67.89
Electors on the lists			40,299
Source: Report of the Chief Electoral Officer, Thirty-third General Election, 1984.

References

1. Bacon, Dick (1 December 1976). "Sam Berger will retire soon, turn Alouettes over to his sons". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
2. Canadian Who's Who 1997 entry
3. David Berger – Parliament of Canada biography
4. David Berger: Heads of Post List
5. Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada Complete List of Posts
6. Dion has walked a fine line on Mideast