130 Facts About Bob Rae

Bob Rae previously served as the 21st premier of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party from 1982 to 1996, and interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2011 to 2013.

Bob Rae was a New Democratic Party Member of Parliament from 1978 to 1982.

Bob Rae then moved to provincial politics, serving as leader of the Ontario NDP from February 7,1982, to June 22,1996.

In 2006, Bob Rae was a candidate for the leadership of the Liberals, finishing in third place on the third ballot.

Bob Rae returned to the House of Commons of Canada on March 31,2008, as a Liberal MP after winning a March 17,2008 by-election, holding the riding that had previously been held by Liberal Bill Graham.

Bob Rae ran again as a candidate for the party leadership but withdrew on December 12,2008.

Bob Rae was re-elected in the Toronto Centre riding in the 2011 general election and was named interim leader of the Liberal Party weeks later, replacing Michael Ignatieff; he served in that position until Justin Trudeau's election as party leader in early 2013.

On June 19,2013, Bob Rae announced that he would resign from parliament in order to become chief negotiator for James Bay area First Nations in their negotiations with the provincial government.

Bob Rae joined Olthuis Kleer Townshend LLP, a law firm specializing in representing Aboriginal clients, as a partner in February 2014.

Bob Rae was appointed Canada's special envoy to Myanmar in October 2017 and advised Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the Rohingya crisis.

Bob Rae is a Senior Fellow to the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights and a Distinguished Fellow at the Munk School at the University of Toronto.

Bob Rae's parents were Lois Esther and Saul Rae, an eminent Canadian career diplomat who had postings in Washington, Geneva, New York, Mexico, and The Hague.

Rae's elder brother John A Rae was born on 1945 and was an executive vice-president and director of Power Corporation and a prominent member of the Liberal Party.

Bob Rae was an adviser to Jean Chretien when he was Indian Affairs Minister in 1968, and then again from 1993 until 2003 while Chretien was prime minister.

Bob Rae is a member of Holy Blossom Temple, a Reform Jewish congregation in Toronto.

Bob Rae's uncle, the late Jackie Rae, was an entertainer and former host of The Jackie Rae Show on CBC and performed on British television.

Bob Rae attended Crichton Street Public School in Ottawa, Horace Mann Public School and Gordon Junior High School in Washington, DC, and the International School of Geneva, Switzerland.

Bob Rae's first job was a paper route delivering the Washington's Evening Star newspaper, which he later described as "one of the worst newspapers in the history of modern journalism".

Bob Rae later joked that Kefauver gave him a $20 tip one Christmas, whereas Pat Nixon only gave him a quarter and made him more sympathetic to Democrats from that moment.

Bob Rae graduated with honours from University College, University of Toronto, where he later received his law degree.

Bob Rae first became involved in politics by volunteering on Trudeau's 1968 Liberal leadership campaign, and later worked on Liberal Charles Caccia's campaign in the 1968 federal election.

Bob Rae was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in a 1978 by-election, defeating Progressive Conservative Tom Clifford by 420 votes in the Toronto riding of Broadview.

Bob Rae won the NDP nomination over former MP John Paul Harney and activist Kay Macpherson.

Bob Rae was elected to parliament for a third time in the 1980 federal election, and married Arlene Perly days later.

Bob Rae articulated his party's policy on the Canadian Bank Act, and criticized the Bank of Canada's high interest rate policy.

Bob Rae initially declined a request from a provincial delegation led by Member of Provincial Parliament Dave Cooke, but reconsidered after further entreaties from former Ontario NDP leader Stephen Lewis and many others.

Bob Rae was the most centrist candidate in the contest, and easily defeated Richard Johnston and Jim Foulds at a leadership convention in early 1982.

When Bob Rae won the NDP leadership, the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party had governed Ontario since 1943 and was widely regarded as unbeatable.

Bob Rae was strongly critical of the Bill Davis government's approach to social issues, and used his acceptance speech to describe the PC Party's Ontario as "Toryland", "essentially a country club in which women and people of colour were not welcome".

Bob Rae's comments were criticized by some in the media, though Rae himself would later write that his words seemed "particularly apt" in retrospect and "certainly aroused an angry response which often means a target has been hit".

Bob Rae defeated Liberal candidate John Nunziata, a York councillor in a by-election on November 4,1982.

Bob Rae nonetheless played a pivotal role in bringing the Progressive Conservative Party's 42-year dynasty to an end.

Bob Rae entered into negotiations with both Premier Miller and Peterson, the latter begun by a phone call from Bob Rae to Peterson shortly after election day.

Bob Rae had personally supported a full coalition, but did not strongly argue this case with other members of his party.

Bob Rae himself moved the motion of non-confidence, as he had done in the defeat of Joe Clark's government six years earlier.

Bob Rae often criticized Peterson's approach to specific issues, but never moved to bring down the government.

Bob Rae advocated pension reform in early 1986, following revelations that some corporate leaders in Ontario had been given permission to withdraw money from their employees' pension funds.

Bob Rae was especially critical of Conrad Black, who then held a controlling interest in Dominion Stores Ltd.

Later in the same year, Bob Rae argued that the Peterson government should reform the Ontario Human Rights Code to include provisions for group defamation and systematic discrimination.

The NDP was reduced to nineteen seats and Bob Rae was nearly defeated in his own riding, defeating high-profile Liberal challenger Alan Tonks by only 333 votes.

In September 1989, Bob Rae took part in a highly publicized protest in support of native land claims in the middle of the Temagami Forest in Northern Ontario.

On October 5,1989 Bob Rae announced that he would not return to federal politics and would remain as provincial leader.

Several of Bob Rae's associates, including Arlene Perly Bob Rae, declared their support for Howard McCurdy, and later moved to Audrey McLaughlin after McCurdy was dropped from the ballot at the leadership convention.

Bob Rae was an international observer for Lithuania's first multi-party elections in early 1990.

Bob Rae was very critical of the Kremlin's harsh response to the opposition's victory.

Bob Rae later acknowledged that he did not expect to win the election, and planned to leave electoral politics at some point in the next sitting of the legislature.

Bob Rae himself was more confident than in the 1985 and 1987 campaigns, and took a more aggressive stance against the Peterson government.

On October 1,1990, Bob Rae was sworn in as the first, and to date the only, NDP Premier of Ontario.

Bob Rae took the Intergovernmental Affairs portfolio, giving himself a direct voice in future constitutional negotiations.

Bob Rae was in power for 1650 days, the longest term for an Ontario premier since the Second World War.

Bob Rae became one of the few Ontario premiers who could speak French.

Besides many NDP supporters nationwide voting Liberal to ensure that the Conservatives would be defeated, the Bob Rae government's unpopularity was a major factor in the federal NDP's losses.

Notwithstanding its setbacks, the Bob Rae government achieved some positive accomplishments during its time in office.

Ontario's economic forecast was bleak when Bob Rae took office in October 1990.

Some economists projected soaring deficits for the upcoming years, even if the Bob Rae government implemented austerity measures.

Bob Rae himself was critical of the Bank of Canada's high interest rate policy, arguing that it would lead to increased unemployment throughout the country.

Bob Rae criticized the 1991 federal budget, arguing the Finance Minister Michael Wilson was shifting the federal debt to the provinces.

Labour Minister Bob Rae Mackenzie estimated that the plan would help 56,000 workers.

Bob Rae left Davos convinced that major changes in Ontario public services were needed, where these changes were of the kind long-proposed by the more conservative and business leaders of Ontario.

Sid Ryan, Ontario President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees stated that Bob Rae's passing of the "Social Contract" was unforgivable.

Macleans reported that Bob Rae had been delivered "a secret ultimatum" "by Canadian and international bond dealers".

Indeed, no less than a year later at Davos, Bob Rae arrived as a pro-business head of government.

Bob Rae approached the World Economic Forum as a unabashed champion of the international corporation working against the expansion of workers' wages and government services.

Bob Rae proposed giving a large majority of Ontario's investment planning to international banking and securities firms, meeting with Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Nomura Securities, all of whom sold Ontario bonds on the global market.

The Bob Rae government delisted home care from OHIP coverage but introduced a new comprehensive program to deliver the service mostly on a non-profit basis by publicly run, regional multi-service agencies and passed the Home Care and Community Services Act, 1994 to facilitate this.

Bob Rae's government attempted to introduce a variety of socially progressive measures during its time in office, though its success in this field was mixed.

The Bob Rae government established an employment equity commission in 1991, and two years later introduced affirmative action to improve the numbers of women, non-whites, aboriginals and disabled persons working across the private and public sectors.

When campaigning in 1990, Bob Rae promised that he would eliminate food banks through anti-poverty initiatives.

Bob Rae later worked to help six aboriginal bands in Northern Ontario gain reserve status, and called for self-government on the Akwesasne Indian Reserve, in part to help the reserve leaders combat smuggling.

Bob Rae pushed for native rights to be included in future constitutional reforms.

In November 1990, the Bob Rae government announced an indefinite moratorium on the construction of new nuclear plants in Ontario.

In March 1991, Bob Rae announced that he would support a new round of constitutional negotiations between the federal government and the provinces, which ultimately proved to be unsuccessful.

Bob Rae indicated that Ontario was willing to recognize Quebec as a distinct society, and called for aboriginal and women's rights to be entrenched in the Canadian Constitution.

Bob Rae supported the creation of a "social charter", to establish national standards for social programs such as medicare.

Early in his term, Bob Rae indicated that his government would continue a long-standing development freeze in Toronto's Harbourfront area, to ensure the survival of cultural programs in the area.

Bob Rae was initially one of the most prominent opponents of the North American Free Trade Agreement in Canada.

Bob Rae endorsed Susan Eng's successful bid to chair the Metro Toronto Police Services Board in early 1991, over the opposition of several police officers.

Bob Rae later introduced policies requiring Ontario police services to hire more women, disabled people, native Canadians and members of visible minority groups.

When Bob Rae assumed office, the Retail Business Holidays Act of Ontario had recently been found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Ontario, meaning that many stores were allowed to open legally on Sundays for the first time.

Bob Rae announced that his government planned to introduce legislation for a "common pause day" across Ontario, "to help strengthen family and community life while protecting small business and the rights of workers".

However, many retail owners as well as members of the general public preferred Sunday shopping to be legal, and in 1992 the Bob Rae government yielded to the pressure and reversed its position, amending the Retail Business Holidays Act so that only statutory holidays, and not Sundays, would be common pause days.

Bob Rae's popularity had recovered somewhat by 1995, but by the time the writs were dropped for that year's provincial election it was obvious that the NDP would not be re-elected.

Bob Rae himself was reelected in his own riding by over 3,000 votes.

Bob Rae was eventually succeeded as party leader by Howard Hampton, who was formerly Natural Resources Minister in Rae's cabinet and a longtime left-wing rival.

Bob Rae resigned from the New Democratic Party in 1998 due to his appointment to the Security Intelligence Review Committee.

Bob Rae was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2000, and in 2004 he was appointed to the Order of Ontario.

Bob Rae was appointed the sixth chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University on July 2,2003, and was installed at that school's fall convocation in October.

Bob Rae became a partner at Goodmans LLP, a Toronto-based corporate law firm, an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, and a Senior Fellow of Massey College.

Bob Rae was the national spokesperson for the Leukemia Research Foundation.

Bob Rae returned to active politics on April 16,2002, two days after Mike Harris announced his resignation as premier, with an opinion piece in the National Post newspaper.

Bob Rae suggested that the party's economic policies were insufficient for the 21st century, and that the party as a whole was no longer "worthy of support".

Bob Rae worked on the Red Cross tainted blood issue and worked towards a resolution of the fishing conflict in Burnt Church, New Brunswick.

In 2005, Bob Rae wrote a report for the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty on post-secondary education, commonly referred to as the Bob Rae Report.

Bob Rae's report called for increased government funding to colleges and universities, and enhanced student aid especially for low-income students.

Bob Rae has become involved with international issues; in 2002 and 2003, as chair of the Forum of Federations he helped oversee constitutional discussions between the government of Sri Lanka and Tamil Tiger rebels.

On November 23,2005, Bob Rae recommended further inquiry into the investigation and prosecution.

In July 2005, The Globe and Mail and the National Post both reported that Bob Rae was again being considered for appointment to the position of Governor General.

However, Bob Rae was passed over again, this time in favour of Michaelle Jean.

Valpy's feature on Bob Rae included a comment by Arlene Perly Bob Rae that he could return to politics if there was a national unity crisis.

On November 23,2005, Bob Rae presented his recommendations that there should be a formal but focused inquiry into the Air India disaster.

Bob Rae produced a comprehensive report outlining the key issues that could be addressed, leaving Air India Victims' families spokeswoman Lata Pada "encouraged that demands for answers will be addressed".

Bob Rae was endorsed by MPs Irwin Cotler, Ujjal Dosanjh, Lawrence MacAulay, Diane Marleau and Brian Murphy, as well as several Senators.

However, Bob Rae lost his bid for the leadership in the third round of Convention balloting, placing third behind both Michael Ignatieff and Stephane Dion, who had leapfrogged into first after receiving the support of Gerard Kennedy.

Bob Rae then freed his delegates and did not indicate whom he supported on the final ballot; Dion won the leadership.

On March 7,2007, Bob Rae announced that he would seek the Liberal nomination in Toronto Centre.

Bob Rae was named co-chair of the Liberals' platform development committee, with Scott Brison.

Bob Rae kept this tradition going; he finished almost 11,000 votes ahead of his closest opponent and with more than 4,400 votes than his five opponents combined.

Bob Rae's candidacy was endorsed by the former Conservative candidate Mark Warner, who was dropped due to disagreements with the party on social and urban issues.

Bob Rae returned to Parliament on March 31,2008, after a 25-year absence.

Bob Rae was immediately promoted to the Liberal shadow cabinet as Foreign Affairs critic.

Bob Rae was re-elected to his Commons' seat in the fall 2008 federal election.

When Dion announced that he would resign the leadership in May 2009 after the party's poor results, Bob Rae became a candidate in the ensuing Liberal leadership election.

Bob Rae took part in negotiations for the Liberals to form a coalition with the NDP, with support from the Bloc Quebecois.

Bob Rae found it more difficult to garner support than he had in the last leadership contest, with his 2006 campaign co-chair now supporting Ignatieff.

Bob Rae has since criticized Ignatieff's decision to withdraw from the coalition with the NDP.

Bob Rae served as Foreign Affairs critic in the shadow cabinets of both Dion and Ignatieff.

On June 9,2009, Bob Rae was denied entry by Sri Lankan Immigration officials at the Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo, Sri Lanka on grounds that he was "a threat to national security and sympathetic to the Tamil Tigers rebel group".

In November 2009, Bob Rae sponsored a motion for Canada to recognize Black Ribbon Day to commemorate the victims of Nazi and Communist regimes.

On May 19,2011, Bob Rae declared that he would not be running for leadership for the Liberal Party, but would instead seek the interim leadership position.

Bob Rae was chosen over Quebec MP Marc Garneau for the interim leadership on May 25,2011.

When Justin Trudeau was elected the new permanent leader in April 2013, Bob Rae had become the longest serving interim leader, having served almost two years in this capacity.

When Justin Trudeau won the 2015 elections and became Prime Minister, Bob Rae was given considerable credit for laying the foundations for the turnaround in the fortunes of the Liberal Party.

On June 19,2013, Bob Rae announced that he would be leaving parliament in order to serve as chief negotiator and counsel for the Matawa First Nations in Northern Ontario's Ring of Fire; his resignation took effect on July 31.

Bob Rae joined the University of Toronto School of Public Policy and Governance as a distinguished senior fellow, effective July 1,2013.

In February 2014, Bob Rae became a partner in the law firm Olthuis Kleer Townshend LLP, a law firm which specializes in representing Aboriginal communities across the country.

Bob Rae has a mandate "to promote accountability for alleged crimes perpetrated against vulnerable populations, including the Rohingya Muslim community, other religious and ethnic minorities, and women and girls".

On March 10,2020, Prime Minister Trudeau expanded Bob Rae's role naming him as Canada's Special Envoy on Humanitarian and Refugee Issues.

In November 2020, Bob Rae called on the UN to investigate evidence of genocide against the Uighur minority in China.

Bob Rae was appointed co-facilitator of the 8th Review of the UN's Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, a process he led to a consensus adoption by the UN General Assembly in June 2023.

On 25 July 2024, Bob Rae was elected the eightieth President of the Economic and Social Council for the 2025 Session.