Derek has served the constituency of Scarborough-Rouge River for over 20 years. He has established extraordinary respect and public support resulting in re-election in every election since 1988 by large majority and in fact in 2006 he was re-elected by one of the largest majorities of any Liberal in Canada.

Derek is recognized as an authority on parliamentary procedure and a strong advocate for parliamentary reform to bring parliamentary procedures into the 21st century. He has authored two influential books on parliamentary subjects.

The first, The Power of Parliamentary Houses To Send For Persons, Papers & Records, was published in 1999 and is recognized as a reference and sourcebook on the parliamentary power of subpoena, one of the fundamental powers of Parliament to assure transparency and hold the government to account.

His second book, Back Bench Exercises, suggested procedural reforms to modernize the Canadian parliamentary process. Many of these recommendations have since been adopted and the book has come to be regarded as offering useful reform benchmarks.
The Canadian House of Commons was one of the few around the world lacking its own heraldic symbol and Derek campaigned to have one adopted. He is very pleased that both this recommendation in his book and his motion was adopted by the House in 2005 and the new symbol was unveiled by the Speaker in March 2009.

Much of the real work of Parliament is done in Committees of the House and it is here that Derek has played a major role throughout his parliamentary career. Recognized as an authority on national security, in 2004 the Prime Minister asked Derek to Chair the Interim Committee on National Security to develop proposals for a permanent parliamentary security committee and he was a guiding force in developing the legislation to establish the National Security Committee of Parliamentarians. He was a leader in the first parliamentary review of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), has chaired the National Security Subcommittee for many years and initiated the current oversight of the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), our signals intelligence agency.

Among many other responsibilities, Derek chaired the first ever parliamentary committee that reviewed appointments to the Supreme Court of Canada. He has also chaired the Procedure and House Affairs Committee and served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Government House Leader as well as Vice-Chair of the Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, Chairperson of the G.T.A Federal Liberal Caucus and Vice-Chair of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

In the present Parliament, Derek occupies a critical role as Chair of the Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, overseeing all government expenditures. In the present circumstances of economic challenge and stimulus initiatives, Derek has a sensitive and critical role to play in overseeing Canada’s economic stimulus spending as proposed by the Harper Government.

At home in Scarborough Derek spends much effort on environmental initiatives as a passionate advocate. In 2002 he was the driving force behind the government’s decision to set aside 7,000 acres of federal lands on the Oak Ridge Moraine as protected green space for the Rouge Park. He has worked tirelessly for the preservation of the Rouge Valley park system and was the Federal member on the Rouge Park Alliance for 15 years.

Derek is an enthusiastic outdoorsman with a great appreciation for the natural wonders of Ontario. He has trekked the 800km Bruce Trail, completed a solo trek in the far north and enjoys hiking the parklands in our general area.

Derek was born in Halifax. He graduated with a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from the University of Toronto, later obtaining his LL.B from Queens University and was called to the Bar in 1975. Prior to his election to Parliament he practiced law in Toronto from 1975 to 1988 and was a partner in the firm of Stikeman, Lee and Chenoweth. During this time he was active in the Liberal Party and was an adviser to both federal and provincial Cabinet Ministers.