Gary Collins (Canadian politician)

Gary Collins (born August 22, 1963), known as Gary Farrell-Collins until 2001, is a former Canadian politician who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of British Columbia, representing Fort Langley-Aldergrove from 1991 to 1996, Vancouver-Little Mountain from 1996 to 2001, and Vancouver-Fairview from 2001 to 2004. A caucus member of the British Columbia Liberal Party, he served in the cabinet of Premier Gordon Campbell as Minister of Finance from 2001 to 2004. He was also the chief executive officer of Vancouver-based Harmony Airways from 2004 to 2006.

Biography
He was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to Jack and Kay Collins. After moving to British Columbia, he attended the Fraser Valley College and graduated from the aviation diploma program; he went on to become a flight instructor with that institution. In addition, he studied economics and political science at Simon Fraser University.

He ran in the 1991 provincial election as a BC Liberal candidate in the riding of Fort Langley-Aldergrove, and was elected MLA by a margin of 2,636 votes. For the 1996 election he moved to the riding of Vancouver-Little Mountain, and was re-elected with 50.3% of the vote. In opposition, he served as Official Opposition House Leader and held a variety of critic roles, including labour, investment and finance.

With the Little Mountain riding dissolved and redistributed ahead of the 2001 provincial election, he ran in the newly established riding of Vancouver-Fairview, and was re-elected by a margin of 7,813 votes. The Liberals formed government following that election, and Collins was appointed to the cabinet that June by Premier Gordon Campbell to serve as Minister of Finance; he was also named Government House Leader. For his first budget, Collins raised the provincial sales tax by half a percentage point to 7.5%, and increased tobacco tax and medicare premiums; a $4.4 billion deficit was forecast for that fiscal year. He went on to announce the Liberal government's first balanced budget in 2004.

In December 2004, Collins announced his decision to resign as Minister of Finance and Vancouver-Fairview MLA effective immediately, and became the CEO of Harmony Airways. He left that position in December 2006; the airline ceased operations a few months later. He then became a senior vice-president with Belkorp Industries, before being named president of Coastal Contacts in August 2012.

Personal life
He was first elected under the name Gary Farrell-Collins, and appeared on the ballot in the 2001 provincial election by that name. However, he was sworn in as MLA at the 37th Parliament as "Gary Collins" later that year, after dropping his former wife's last name following their divorce. He later married Wendy Cox, a reporter with The Canadian Press. They have two children together, son Thomas and daughter Claire.