Michael Bryant

Explore about the Famous Politician Michael Bryant, who was born in Canada on April 13, 1966. Analyze Michael Bryant’s net worth, age, bio, birthday, dating, height-weight, wiki. Investigate who is Michael Bryant dating now? Look into this article to know how old is Michael Bryant?

Michael Bryant Biography

Bryant was raised in the Greater Victoria area of British Columbia, where his father Ray was mayor of Esquimalt from 1966 to 1969. Known for his “pugnacious streak”, he trained as a boxer from childhood.

Michael J. Bryant (born April 13, 1966) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician. He is the executive director and general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of British Columbia in 1988, and a Master’s degree from the same institution in 1989. Bryant was also a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity at UBC. He graduated as in 1992 from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Toronto with a law degree. and was the silver medalist of his year. He then earned an LL.M. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1994. Bryant is a Fulbright Fellow. He clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada in 1992–93, and was later a lawyer at the firm of Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City, as well as lecturing in law at King’s College London in England, and practicing litigation at McCarthy Tétrault. In 1997, he became an adjunct professor in international law at the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto.

Bryant was elected to the Ontario legislature in the provincial election of 1999, defeating incumbent Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Isabel Bassett in St. Paul’s by almost 5,000 votes. Earlier, Bryant became the Liberal Party’s nominee by defeating future premier Kathleen Wynne, 328 votes to 143. The Progressive Conservative government was re-elected, and Bryant served in Opposition Critic to the Attorney General for the next four years.

Bryant was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the downtown Toronto riding of St. Paul’s from 1999 to 2009. He was a senior member of Dalton McGuinty’s provincial cabinet, first as Attorney General, being the province’s youngest-ever to hold that post, and subsequently as Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, Minister of Economic Development and Government House Leader.

He was re-elected by a greater majority in the provincial election of 2003. The Liberals won a majority government in this election, and Bryant was appointed Ontario Attorney General and Minister with responsibility for Native Affairs and Democratic Renewal. While Attorney General he helped create Ontario’s controversial Stunt Driving law, aimed at reducing street racing, and supported seizing and crushing vehicles that had been modified for street racing. Bryant was also a strong proponent of a complete ban on handguns in Canada, at one point launching a website named “No Gun, No Funeral”.

Bryant was re-elected in the 2007 election. He was appointed as Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Government House Leader on October 30, 2007. On September 18, 2008, he became Minister of Economic Development, replacing Sandra Pupatello.

In December 2009, Bryant returned to the private practice of law and joined Norton Rose LLP (formerly Ogilvy Renault) as Senior Advisor and was involved with commercial and investment matters relating to energy, natural resources and infrastructure/public-private partnerships. In 2012 he moved to the Ishkonigan, a consulting and mediation firm owned by Phil Fontaine, where he accepted a position as a principal.

The Ministry of the Attorney General appointed British Columbia’s Richard Peck as the prosecutor to avoid a conflict-of-interest, as Bryant had appointed judges when he served as Attorney General. His first court date was scheduled for October 19, 2009. The matter was adjourned six times.

On the evening of August 31, 2009, Bryant and his wife were driving home in his Saab convertible after celebrating their 12th wedding anniversary. At one point, they passed a cyclist, Darcy Allan Sheppard, who according to an interview with Bryant was tossing garbage and holding up traffic by executing figure eights on his bike. As they neared a pedestrian crossing Sheppard pulled in front of Bryant’s vehicle at a red light. Subsequent events were captured on security camera.

On September 1, 2009, Bryant was taken into police custody after an altercation with cyclist Darcy Allan Sheppard on a downtown Toronto street which resulted in Sheppard’s death. Bryant was later charged with criminal negligence causing death and dangerous driving causing death with respect to the incident. On May 25, 2010, prosecutor Richard Peck withdrew all charges against Bryant stemming from the incident, noting there was “no reasonable prospect of conviction”.

On May 23, 2009, Bryant announced that he would leave provincial politics to become CEO of the newly established Invest Toronto corporation, with Dalton McGuinty taking over his portfolio of Economic Development. Bryant denied that his departure was as a result of a falling out with McGuinty, though reports suggested that Bryant’s outspoken nature and ambition for the Premier’s job may have been controversial within McGuinty’s inner circle. Bryant’s resignation was effective June 7, 2009. Eric Hoskins retained the seat for the Liberals in a by-election held on September 17, 2009.

Bryant left provincial politics to take up the newly created post of chief executive officer of Invest Toronto, a municipal agency with a mandate to attract investment and facilitate economic development. An altercation with a cyclist in 2009 led to Bryant being charged for the cyclist’s death; the charges were mysteriously withdrawn in 2010.

On May 25, 2010, prosecutor Richard Peck withdrew all charges against Bryant stemming from the incident, noting there was “no reasonable prospect of conviction”. Peck said that “[Bryant] was attacked by a man who unfortunately was in a rage. [Bryant] was legally justified in his attempt to get away”, and noted that Sheppard had run-ins with six other motorists in the same month before his encounter with Bryant, and was witnessed throwing traffic cones in front of cars at the corner of Bloor and Yonge less than twenty minutes before the incident and Sheppard’s subsequent death. The decision to withdraw charges was criticized by Marli Epp, a spokesperson for the Toronto Bike Messenger Association and Yvonne Bambrick, Executive Director of the Toronto Cyclists Union.

Bryant was married to Susan Abramovitch, an entertainment lawyer, and they have two children, Sadie and Louis. The couple separated in December 2010.

In August 2012, Bryant published a book, 28 Seconds, his memoir of Sheppard’s death and of Bryant’s own battle with alcoholism.

In 2015 he began to work for Legal Aid Ontario as a criminal defence duty counsel. In 2016, he was working in partnership with King Law Chambers as a criminal defence lawyer for the indigent and indigenous, and negotiating aboriginal land claims for First Nations. In 2018 he was appointed executive director and general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

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