CANDIDATE: Gordon F. Gibson
CONSTITUENCY: Vancouver South
Gordon Gibson was born August 23, 1937, to J. Gordon and Louise Gibson in Vancouver and spent his early years on the West Coast of Vancouver Island.
Educated at Kerrisdale, Point Grey and West Vancouver, Gordon went on to earn an honors Bachelor of Arts at University of B.C., and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.
Early in his career, Gordon worked in retail sales, accounting, radio, sawmilling, office work--even as a singer.
Between 1961 and 1963, he started and operated a small prefabricated building business which developed, manufactured and commenced national distribution from Vancouver of a B.C.-invented housing system.
Between 1963 and 1972, he served as executive assistant to the minister, department of northern affairs, of Indian Affairs, and to the Prime Minister.
He was assistant campaign manager and campaign manager to Arthur Laing in 1963 and 1965, and campaign assistant to Pierre Trudeau in the Liberal leadership contest of 1968.
Gordon's wife is Valerie. Their children are Michelle, 13; Marc, 10, and Melissa, 7.
(undated Vancouver Public Library clippings file item re Gordon F. Gibson)
Express Victoria Bureau
VICTORIA-Gordon Gibson dropped the other political shoe Tuesday, announcing he is leaving the provincial legislature and quitting as B.C.'s Liberal leader to become a top temporary campaign strategist for the federal Liberal party.
He said he will seek nomination for the North Vancouver-Burnaby riding in the next federal vote expected this spring or in early summer.
Last year, Gibson announced he would not run provincially again, a decision that left the small and struggling provincial Liberal party with no one of stature to lead it.
Gibson, 42, is to become the national director of the Liberal party and adviser to the prime minister. He has tendered his resignation to the speaker of the B.C. legislature, and he assumes his new, politically sensitive post immediately.
Gibson will be among the party's top campaign directors who include party president Senator Al Graham and the party's national executive.
"I hope to be able to do some modest good in it (the federal party post) and, if the voters are willing, perhaps I shall be back in elected office in due course," Gibson said.
Noting the importance of the next election--a judgment on more than decade of Trudeau's leadership--Gibson said there is "useful work to be done."
"That is why I am taking the somewhat unusual step of resigning an elected office to accept an appointed one on a temporary basis."
Gibson became an assistant to Trudeau in 1968 after joining Trudeau's forces in 1967.
In 1972, Gibson ran federally in Vancouver South and was defeated. But in early 1974 he was elected in a byelection for the provincial seat of North Vancouver-Capilano.
He was chosen leader of the Liberal party in B.C. in the fall of 1975 and was re-elected to his provincial seat in the December 1975 general election.
(text of January 17, 1979 Vancouver Express article; another item in the Vancouver Public Library clippings file re Gordon F. Gibson.)