David Hiroshi Tsubouchi was born on August 20,1951 and is a former politician in Ontario, Canada.
22 Facts About David Tsubouchi
1.
2.
David Tsubouchi was a Progressive Conservative member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2003, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of Mike Harris and Ernie Eves.
3.
David Tsubouchi was the first Japanese Canadian elected to a provincial legislature.
4.
David Tsubouchi's parents were Japanese Canadians, originally from British Columbia, who were interned during World War II.
5.
David Tsubouchi graduated from Agincourt Collegiate Institute in 1968 and attended York University where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1972, and a law degree from Osgoode Hall in 1975.
6.
David Tsubouchi was an Associate Director of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, and was a frequent contributor to the Law Gazette.
7.
David Tsubouchi received an Air Canada Heart of Gold award in 1988, and was granted a coat-of-arms from the Canadian Governor-General's office in 1993.
8.
David Tsubouchi's father was killed in a hit and run accident in 2005.
9.
David Tsubouchi had a minor role as a Japanese salesman in David Cronenberg's Videodrome in 1983, and episodes of John Byner's Bizarre and SCTV.
10.
David Tsubouchi was elected as a city councillor in ward 5 in Markham and served from 1988 to 1994.
11.
The Tories won a majority government in the election and David Tsubouchi was appointed as Minister of Community and Social Services in the government of Mike Harris on June 26,1995.
12.
David Tsubouchi made a number of controversial actions early in his ministry, including suggesting that welfare recipients who had their funding reduced should consider haggling down the price of dented cans of tuna to 69 cents each.
13.
David Tsubouchi's list was found to have less nutritional value than the diet served to prisoners in Ontario jails.
14.
David Tsubouchi remained with the portfolio until August 16,1996, when he was named Minister of Consumer and Commercial Relations.
15.
Notwithstanding his handling of the Social Services portfolio, David Tsubouchi was regarded in some circles as one of the more progressively-minded ministers in the Harris government.
16.
David Tsubouchi supported the centre-right Progressive Conservative Party of Canada rather than the right-wing Reform Party at the federal level, and in 2000 was the only member of the Progressive Conservative caucus to openly support Joe Clark for the federal party's leadership.
17.
David Tsubouchi was credited by some for at least making an effort to cushion the blow of his government's welfare cuts.
18.
David Tsubouchi was easily re-elected in the provincial election of 1999, defeating Liberal Steven Kirsch by just over 13,000 votes.
19.
David Tsubouchi held this position until a cabinet shuffle on February 8,2001, when he was named Chair of the Management Board of Cabinet.
20.
David Tsubouchi supported Ernie Eves's successful bid to replace Mike Harris as party leader in 2002.
21.
David Tsubouchi worked as associate counsel at the law firm Miller Thomson LLP, and is currently the founder and chairman of Deduce International Markets Inc In 2007 he was invested as a Knight in The Equestrian, Secular and Chapterial Order of Saint Joachim in Toronto.
22.
In recent years, David Tsubouchi has worked as a partner at the law firm Fogler, Rubinoff LLP, and has been appointed to head Ontario College of Trades starting on September 9,2013.