David Sweet was born on June 24,1957 and is a former Canadian politician who served as a Member of Parliament from 2006 to 2021.
32 Facts About David Sweet
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David Sweet was born and raised in Kingston, Ontario to Gordon, a former sergeant of the Canadian Armed Forces and television repairman, and Jean David Sweet, where he was raised alongside five siblings.
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At the age of thirteen, David Sweet ran away from home and lived on the street for several months, eventually being caught and sent to St Joseph's Training School in Alfred, Ontario.
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At St Joseph's, one of the province-run training schools for "incorrigible" youth, David Sweet endured physical beatings by the Catholic brothers who ran the school, and was regularly bullied and beaten by other boys, beatings which were ignored by the guards.
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David Sweet attempted to run away from the reformatory, but was caught and put in solitary confinement for ten days.
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At one point, David Sweet was made to scrub walls with bleach using his bare hands for three hours as punishment.
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David Sweet remained at the institution until he was 16 years old.
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David Sweet's business offered training services to a variety of corporate, public, and not-for-profit clients.
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In 1996, David Sweet was the founding President of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers, an organization that provides training opportunities for and promotes professional speakers.
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On January 23,2006, David Sweet won the right to represent Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale in the 39th Parliament, beating incumbent Russ Powers, whom David Sweet had lost to in the previous election.
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On June 22,2006, David Sweet obtained the unanimous consent of the House of Commons for a motion awarding honorary Canadian citizenship to the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso.
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At the beginning of the third session, David Sweet was named Chair of the Industry, Science and Technology Committee in addition to his roles from the second session, which he maintained as well.
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On February 10,2011, David Sweet introduced a Private Member's Bill, Bill C-620, An Act to amend the Corrections and Conditional Release Act which was debated only once, on March 23,2011, before the 40th Parliament was dissolved for the 2011 General Election.
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On November 5,2015, David Sweet became the first elected Chair of the National Conservative Parliamentary Caucus, as prior to the 42nd Parliament the position was appointed by the party leader.
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David Sweet briefly served on the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage during the study brought on by Motion 103.
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David Sweet was re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Flamborough-Glanbrook in the 2019 federal election, defeating Stebbing .
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On November 29,2019, David Sweet was named Shadow Minister for International Human Rights and Religious Freedoms by then-leader Andrew Scheer.
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On October 8,2020, David Sweet was elected Chair of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics.
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In January 2021, David Sweet was discovered to have travelled to the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the border between Canada and the United States being closed to nonessential travel and public health advisories to avoid unnecessary travel.
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David Sweet received prior approval from Conservative Party leader Erin O'Toole for the trip, which was initially for a property issue but, according to David Sweet, for leisure.
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David Sweet resigned from his role on the ethics committee and announced he would not be seeking re-election.
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Mental health is an issue that David Sweet has repeatedly spoken about, particularly after the death of his daughter Lara in 2017.
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In 2019, David Sweet supported Private Members' Motion 174, which sought to introduce a National Strategy on Suicide Prevention.
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David Sweet committed to advocating for increased funding for mental health research and programs, as well as promoting policies like the National Strategy on Suicide Prevention.
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David Sweet has similarly held both the position of chair and Vice Chair of the Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group.
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David Sweet is a vocal advocate for human rights and religious freedoms, having served on the House of Commons Subcommittee on International Human Rights since he was first elected in 2006.
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David Sweet served on the Steering Committee of the Canadian Parliamentary Committee to Combat Antisemitism Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism and on the CPCCA's Inquiry Panel which released a public report on July 7,2011.
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In November 2012, David Sweet received the 2012 Humanitarian Award from the Hamilton Jewish Federation for his work on CPCCA and in speaking out against racism.
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David Sweet has a daughter, Theresa, from a previous marriage.
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On September 19,2017, David Sweet rose in the House of Commons to deliver a Member's statement in Lara's memory, crediting her with reshaping his "thinking on whether someone has to have it all together to assist others".
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David Sweet is a motorcycle enthusiast, speaking in the House of Commons on several occasions to promote road safety for motorcyclists.
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David Sweet participates in a number of charity motorcycle rides across Ontario, including Hamilton's Liberty for Youth Eagle Ride.