John Baird (Canadian politician)

John Russell Baird PC (born May 26, 1969) is a retired Canadian politician. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2015 in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He had been a member of the federal cabinet, in various positions, since 2006. Previously he was a provincial cabinet minister in Ontario during the governments of Premiers Mike Harris and Ernie Eves. Baird resigned from Harper's cabinet on February 3, 2015, and as a Member of Parliament on March 16, 2015.

A long-time resident of the former city of Nepean, where he attended Bell High School, and a graduate of Kingston's Queen's University, he was the member of the House of Commons of Canada for the riding of Ottawa West—Nepean until 2015. Baird was elected there as a candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada in the 2006 federal election, when his party defeated Paul Martin's Liberal Party and established a minority government. Baird was sworn in as Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, replacing Jay Hill, on August 6, 2010. Prior to this, Baird served as Transport Minister starting October 30, 2008, Environment Minister starting January 2007, and President of the Treasury Board during the Conservatives' first year in power.

Baird served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2005 for the riding of Nepean—Carleton (part of Nepean until 1999), and was a cabinet minister in the Progressive Conservative governments of Mike Harris and Ernie Eves. He served as the Minister for Children, Community and Social Services, Energy and Francophone Affairs in addition to being the Government's Chief Whip. After the Conservatives' defeat by Dalton McGuinty's Ontario Liberal Party, he was the party's critic for key portfolios including finance, culture and health. Baird had been a member of the Conservatives since 1985, when he was the youngest delegate at that time and was also a political aide for the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in the late 1980s.

During his tenure in the Harris Cabinet he supported an attempt to sell Hydro One, the publicly owned utility firm. As the federal President of the Treasury Board in the Harper Cabinet, he moved the Federal Accountability Act, which was put in place after the Gomery Commission which investigated the federal sponsorship scandal in the late 1990s and early 2000s. As Minister of the Environment, Baird signalled the Canadian government's opposition to the Kyoto Protocol. He also served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, and President of the Treasury Board.