1. Murray Rankin previously served as the federal Member of Parliament for Victoria from 2012 to 2019, with senior roles including Justice and Attorney General Critic, Health Critic, and NDP House Leader.
50 Facts About Murray Rankin
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From 2019 to 2020, Murray Rankin was head of Canada's National Security and Intelligence Review Agency, overseeing all national security and intelligence activities carried out by the Government of Canada.
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Murray Rankin was born in Belleville, Ontario, the only male of five children, to Eleanore, a school teacher, and McKinley Murray Rankin, a teacher and insurance agent.
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Murray Rankin is a founding member and former president of the British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Centre, an NGO that provides legal services to marginalized groups in British Columbia.
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Murray Rankin is former president of West Coast Environmental Law, past chairman of The Land Conservancy of British Columbia, and co-chair of the Environmental Law Centre at the University of Victoria, a student-run legal clinic doing public interest work in environmental law.
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Murray Rankin is a vegetarian, lives in Victoria, British Columbia, and is married to Linda Hannah, whom he met at a founding board meeting of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee.
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Murray Rankin returned to the law school in 2004 to teach part-time as an adjunct professor of law, donating his salary to charity.
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In 1990, Murray Rankin joined up with his friend Joseph Arvay to become managing partner for the boutique law firm Arvay Finlay.
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In 1994, Murray Rankin was appointed by Premier Mike Harcourt as the lead treaty negotiator for the province of British Columbia.
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Murray Rankin represented the Blueberry River First Nations in the negotiation of the first economic benefits agreement relating to natural resources revenues in British Columbia.
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Murray Rankin advised BC Hydro in the landmark agreement with two tribal councils related to the construction of the Lower Mainland Transmission Project.
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Murray Rankin successfully defended BC Forest Appeals Commission's jurisdiction in aboriginal rights case before Supreme Court of Canada.
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Murray Rankin joined the national firm of Heenan Blaikie in 2006 as a partner in their Victoria office.
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Murray Rankin left the law firm in 2011 in order to pursue an independent practice that focused on environmental, aboriginal and public law.
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Murray Rankin was later integrally involved in the consultations leading up to the enactment of the federal Access to Information Act and Privacy Act.
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Murray Rankin was later retained as a special advisor to Colin Gabelmann, the former Attorney General of British Columbia and was a key architect of BC's own Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
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Murray Rankin was former legal counsel to the Security Intelligence Review Committee, received a top-secret clearance, and conducted terrorism hearings.
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Murray Rankin was later appointed by the Justice Minister as a special advocate to do national security work under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act where national security issues arise to protect the interests of people named in security certificates during hearings from which they and their own lawyers are excluded due to national security concerns.
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In 2017, Murray Rankin was appointed by the Governor General, on the advice of the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to the newly formed National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians.
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Murray Rankin has since acted as an advisor to successive leaders of the BC NDP.
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Murray Rankin led the NDP legal team to oppose the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines.
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Murray Rankin argued that British Columbia should withdraw from the federal government's review process and set up a "made-in-BC" environmental assessment that ensures BC's economic, social, environmental, and aboriginal interests are fully addressed.
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Murray Rankin never entered the race, because of the young age of his two sons, and the contest was eventually won by Carole James.
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In September 2012, Murray Rankin announced his intention to seek the NDP nomination to become the federal Member of Parliament for Victoria following Denise Savoie's retirement.
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Murray Rankin was first sworn into office on 11 December 2012.
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On 28 January 2013 Murray Rankin was appointed to the Standing Committee on Finance, which reviews fiscal and monetary policy.
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In 2014 Murray Rankin was elected as Chair of the British Columbia Caucus.
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On 23 February 2015 Murray Rankin became Official Opposition Health Critic and Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Health.
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Murray Rankin was recognised as a "rising star", one of the NDP's top recruits, and "one of Parliament's sharpest legal minds".
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Murray Rankin criticized layoffs at the Canada Revenue Agency which investigates tax fraud and supported the efforts of Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page to measure the tax gap.
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Murray Rankin raised concerns over the federal government's crackdown on charities.
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Murray Rankin said he respected the need for audits to ensure charities comply with the rules, but he noted that many charities are now being tied up in paperwork over the audits, instead of being able to fulfil their charitable mandates and called for public hearings before the finance committee.
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Murray Rankin received the most votes of any NDP candidate in the 2015 election.
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On 12 November 2016, Murray Rankin was named Justice and Attorney General critic for the NDP.
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On 11 December 2016, Murray Rankin was elected vice-chair of the Special Joint Committee on Physician-Assisted Dying.
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On 16 February 2016, Murray Rankin was elected vice-chair of Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
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Murray Rankin served as House Leader for the New Democratic Party from October 2016 to October 2017 during the 2017 New Democratic Party leadership election.
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In October 2017, Murray Rankin resumed his responsibilities as Justice and Attorney General critic for the NDP and was re-elected vice-chair of Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
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On 6 November 2017, Murray Rankin was appointed by the Governor General, on the advice of the Prime Minister, to the newly formed National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians.
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In October 2018, Murray Rankin was nominated by his colleagues from all parties as a finalist for Maclean's "Hardest Working Member of Parliament," alongside Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland and Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer.
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In 2019, Murray Rankin gained national recognition as Vice Chair of the Justice Committee for his key role investigating the SNC Lavalin affair that ultimately led to the resignation of the Prime Minister's Principal Secretary, the Clerk of the Privy Council, and two Ministers.
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In 2018, Murray Rankin worked across political parties to ban single-use plastics following a report from a University of Victoria student.
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On 28 February 2019, Murray Rankin announced that he would not be running in the Canadian federal election in 2019.
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Murray Rankin urged the next Parliament to complete work to bring in a comprehensive public pharmacare program for all of Canada.
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In 2020 Murray Rankin was recruited as a star candidate for BC NDP in Oak Bay-Gordon Head, a riding the BC NDP had not held in nearly 25 years.
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In October 2020, Murray Rankin was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia after receiving the largest swing in support in the 2020 general election.
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Murray Rankin joined Cabinet as British Columbia's Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation.
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In 2022, Murray Rankin was appointed acting attorney general and minister responsible for Housing following David Eby's declaration that he was running to become BC's next premier.
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Murray Rankin was succeeded in that capacity by Niki Sharma in the new Eby ministry.
50.
In June 2024, Murray Rankin announced that he would not stand for re-election in the 2024 British Columbia general election.