Michael Bryant (politician)

This is an accepted version of this page Michael J. Bryant (born April 13, 1966) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician.

Bryant was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the downtown Toronto riding of St. Paul's from 1999 to 2009.

Bryant was raised in the Greater Victoria area of British Columbia, where his father Ray was mayor of Esquimalt from 1966 to 1969.

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.

[7] 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.

[8] 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.

[10][11] 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".

[15] 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.

[22][23][24] On May 25, 2010, prosecutor Richard Peck withdrew all charges against Bryant stemming from the incident, noting there was "no reasonable prospect of conviction".

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.

Bryant hired a public relations firm, Navigator Ltd., while a campaign emerged on blogs and social networks that attempted to cast Sheppard in a favourable light.

[41][42][43][44][45] On May 25, 2010, prosecutor Richard Peck withdrew all charges against Bryant stemming from the incident, noting there was "no reasonable prospect of conviction".

[6] In December 2009, Bryant returned to the private practice of law and joined Norton Rose LLP (formerly Ogilvy Renault) as Senior Advisor[49] and was involved with commercial and investment matters relating to energy, natural resources and infrastructure/public-private partnerships.

[50] In 2012 he moved to the Ishkonigan, a consulting and mediation firm owned by Phil Fontaine, where he accepted a position as a principal.

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.