40 Facts About Brian Pallister

Brian William Pallister was born on July 6,1954 and is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd premier of Manitoba from 2016 until 2021.

Brian Pallister served as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba from 2012 to 2021.

Brian Pallister had been a cabinet minister in the provincial government of Gary Filmon and a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 2000 to 2008.

Brian Pallister holds Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education degrees from Brandon University.

Brian Pallister is a skilled curler and won the provincial mixed curling championship in 2000.

Brian Pallister began his political career at the provincial level, winning a by-election in Portage la Prairie on September 15,1992, as a candidate of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba.

Brian Pallister entered the provincial legislature as a backbench supporter of the Filmon government and pushed for balanced budget legislation.

Brian Pallister was reelected in the 1995 provincial election, and sworn into cabinet on May 9,1995, as Minister of Government Services.

Brian Pallister carried out reforms that eliminated almost 3,000 pages of statutory regulations as part of a government campaign against regulations, presided over changes to the Manitoba Disaster Assistance Board, and oversaw provincial flood claims.

Brian Pallister stepped down from cabinet on January 6,1997, to prepare for his first federal campaign.

Brian Pallister lost to Reform Party incumbent Jake Hoeppner by 1,449 votes.

In 1998, Brian Pallister campaigned for the leadership of the federal Progressive Conservative Party on a platform designed to win back voters who had left the party for Reform.

Brian Pallister withdrew from the contest a few days later.

Brian Pallister said that Progressive Conservatives had "voted for the past" and missed an opportunity to renew themselves.

In July 2000, Brian Pallister wrote an open letter to Joe Clark announcing his candidacy in the next federal election with a dual endorsement from the Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance associations in Portage-Lisgar.

Brian Pallister was elected to the House of Commons in the 2000 general election, defeating his nearest opponent by over 10,000 votes.

The Liberal Party won a majority government, and Brian Pallister served on the opposition benches.

Brian Pallister did not openly endorse anyone in the 2002 Canadian Alliance leadership election.

The Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties merged on December 7,2003, and Brian Pallister became a member of the resulting Conservative Party of Canada.

Brian Pallister considered launching a bid for the new party's leadership, but instead endorsed outgoing Alliance leader Stephen Harper for the position.

Brian Pallister was easily reelected in the 2004 election, in which the Liberals were reduced to a minority government.

Brian Pallister gained increased national prominence in September 2005 after drawing attention to $750,000 of apparent spending irregularities in the office of David Dingwall, the Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Canadian Mint.

Brian Pallister criticized this review as "little more than a whitewash", and argued that the auditors failed to include numerous ambiguous expenses.

Brian Pallister sang a parody of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall, Part Two" in the House of Commons on October 3,2005, during the "Statements by Members" session before Question Period.

Brian Pallister campaigned for reelection at the federal level and was noncommittal about his provincial ambitions.

The Conservatives won a minority government, and Brian Pallister requested that incoming Prime Minister Stephen Harper not consider him for a cabinet portfolio while he was making his decision about entering provincial politics.

Brian Pallister was appointed chair of the House of Commons standing committee on Finance, and in 2007 indicated that he wanted to remove financial access to offshore tax havens such as Barbados.

Brian Pallister came under fire by his critics for some off-color remarks he made while opposition leader.

Brian Pallister said that he never intended to offend anyone with the statement.

Brian Pallister compared the government's move to that of the holiday and said Halloween was bad for the integrity of children.

Brian Pallister's Tories went into the election having led in most opinion polls for almost four years.

Brian Pallister became the first Progressive Conservative premier of the province since Filmon lost the 1999 election.

Brian Pallister led the PCs to re-election with a slightly decreased majority in 2019.

In June 2019, Brian Pallister's government signed onto the National Housing Strategy with the federal government.

Brian Pallister reduced Manitoba's provincial sales tax to 7 percent in his government's 2019 budget, effective July 1.

In 2019, Brian Pallister's government filed a court challenge against it.

On March 25,2021, when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the federal government's carbon tax plan is constitutional, Brian Pallister said that Manitoba will continue the challenge.

Brian Pallister led the provincial government response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Manitoba.

Critics of Brian Pallister's government blamed the surge of COVID-19 cases in part on Brian Pallister's Restart Manitoba plan, which encouraged the re-opening of the provincial economy in direct opposition to the advice of many Manitoba doctors.

Brian Pallister faced similar criticism during the third wave of the virus in May 2021, with changes to the Public Health Orders coming weeks after some critics first called for.