Political Career
He was elected to parliament in the 2000 federal election, beating former Coquitlam mayor and incumbent Liberal Lou Sekora, as a member of the Canadian Alliance Party. In 2003, the party merged with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to form the Conservative Party of Canada. In 2004, Moore was re-elected with 41% of the vote, down from 51% the previous election. He was re-elected by the same margin against another former Coquitlam mayor, Jon Kingsbury, in the 2006 election.
In parliament, Moore served in a variety of posts as a member of the official opposition, including transport critic, amateur sport critic, and public works critic. Some speculated he would be named to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet, but this turned out not to be the case.
On February 7, 2006, Moore was appointed as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister Public Works and Government Services. Principally, Moore was responsible for answering questions regarding his department during Question Period. He also served as Parliamentary Secretary to David Emerson, the then Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics.
Moore is known for having liberal views on social issues that sometimes put him in conflict with other members of his party. He was one of the few libertarians in the mostly socially conservative Canadian Alliance. In 2004, he voted in favour of same-sex marriage after conducting a riding-wide poll of constituents (54% supported the issue). The issue has proven controversial within his own riding, however. In 2006, an independent candidate (who was in fact a former member of the local Conservative riding association) ran against Moore on an explicitly anti-same sex marriage platform. However, he had an opponent who was even more libertarian run against him.
He is one of several members of the House of Commons to have started a blog, which he updated frequently during his bid for re-election in 2005. He shut it down shortly after, citing his newfound responsibilities as a Parliamentary Secretary as being incompatible with keeping a blog.
During a parliamentary session on December 5, 2007, Irene Mathyssen stood in the Chamber and accused Moore of looking at images of "scantily clad" women on his personal laptop computer. She openly questioned his integrity and said his actions "disrespected women". Mathyssen made the charge publicly before talking to Moore, and later when Mathyssen and Moore spoke in person about the incident, Moore explained that the woman in the image was of his girlfriend. Mathyssen has apologized for the incident, and was criticized in the media for it.
Read more about this topic: James Moore (Canadian Politician)
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