Gordon Gibson Jr

Gordon Fulerton Gibson OBC (August 23, 1937 – November 10, 2023), often referred to as Gordon Gibson Jr., was a Canadian political columnist, author, and politician in British Columbia. He was the son of Gordon Gibson Sr., who was a prominent businessman and Liberal Party politician in British Columbia in the 1950s and 1960s.

Gibson received a BA (honours) in mathematics and physics at the University of British Columbia and an MBA from Harvard Business School, and he did research work at the London School of Economics.^[1]

Gibson served as an assistant to the federal Minister of Northern Affairs from 1963 to 1968, and was a special assistant to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau from 1968 to 1972.^[2] In the 1972 federal election, he ran as the Liberal candidate in Vancouver South, but lost to Progressive Conservative candidate John Fraser by 3,000 votes.

In 1974, Gibson won a by-election to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the riding of North Vancouver-Capilano under the Liberal banner. The following year, three Liberal MLAs defected to the Social Credit Party three months before that year's general election, leaving Gibson and party leader David Anderson as the only two Liberals in the legislature. Anderson declined to be renominated to the leadership, and Gibson was approached to lead the party into the election. He was the only Liberal elected that year. He remained party leader until 1979, when he resigned to run again for a seat in the federal House of Commons, in the riding of North Vancouver—Burnaby. He was defeated in both the 1979 and 1980 federal elections by Progressive Conservative candidate Chuck Cook by less than 2,000 votes on each attempt.

Gibson attempted to return to politics as a candidate in the 1993 B.C. Liberal leadership convention; he came in second to future premier Gordon Campbell.

Gibson was a senior fellow in Canadian Studies at the Fraser Institute^[3] and has written several books on Canadian federalism and governance. Following the 2001 British Columbia provincial election, he was hired by the government to make recommendations on the structure and mandate of the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform. His report was substantially adopted.

His columns appeared frequently in the Vancouver Sun,^[4] the Winnipeg Free Press and The Globe and Mail.^[5]

Gibson died on November 10, 2023, at the age of 86.^[6][7] Suffering from heart failure from early 2023, he opted for medical assistance in dying.^[8]

In May 2008, Gibson was awarded the Order of British Columbia.^[9]

• A New Look at Canadian Indian Policy: Respect the Collective - Promote the Individual (2009). ISBN 978-0-88975-243-6