Gerald Fairbrook

Gerald Todd Fairbrook (born 8th June 1943, aged 73) is a Rainian National Union politician who currently serves as a senator for Calgary. He previously served as Prime Minister and National Union party leader from 2000 to 2005 and as both deputy prime minister and Minister of the Treasury from 1993 to 2000. He represented the constituency of Dwynnedd from 1981 to 2007.

Fairbrook trained as a lawyer at the University of British Columbia, and became involved in politics in 1977 when he ran unsuccessfully as a NUP candidate for the House of Councillors in the 1977 election. In 1981 he was elected to the House of Councillors in the seat of Dwynnedd, and quickly made a name for himself as one of the most prominent and articulate members of the new right wing of the party, supporting neoconservatism and neoliberalism. In 1990 Fairbrook and another ambitious NUP MP, Carwyn Maddock, made an agreement to topple the then leader Michael Gwent and form a new conservative leadership with a more moderate image. In 1990 Maddock successfully became NUP leader with Fairbrook as his deputy and shadow treasury minister, when in 1993 the pair led the conservative party to victory over the then incumbent Labour government, with Fairbrook becoming deputy prime minister and Minister of the Treasury.

As Treasury Minister airbrook speared the adoption of a value added goods and services tax in the 1990's which caused controversy at the time. He also presided over a period of economic growth, although Fairbrook's radical market reforms was blocked by Maddock who favoured a more centrist economic policy. In 2000 Maddock resigned, with Fairbrook becoming NUP leader and Prime Minister.

In 2001, Fairbrook called a snap election in the hope of increasing his majority, but the election produced a resulting in Fairbrook to go into a coalition with the Radical Party. Fairbrook during his tenure pushed for more deregulation and privatisation then previously attempted by Rainian governments, especially lowering interest rates and kicking off a housing boom. His government also in the light of the expanded police powers and deployed troops to Afghanistan. In 2003 he supported Rainian involvement in the as part of his neoconservative foreign policy.

In 2004 his government came under close scrutiny after the TriMet Affair when it emerged that his government that agreed to privatise the state owned TriMet company to NUP Party donor Thomas Gelding. This galvanised several protests that demanded Fairbrook's resignation from government. The TriMet affair resulted in the government to gain an image of corruption which alongside a mediocre economy and the continuing controversy over the Iraq War led to the governments defeat in the 2006 election. Fairbrook resigned from the House of Councillors in 2007. In 2010, he returned to politics being elected to the House of Senators for the constituency of Calgary, and has continued to promote neoconservative policies.

Fairbrook's premiership has elicited a mixed reaction by academics. Whilst praised for maintaining Rainier's economic growth during the early 2000's, his stance on the Iraq War has been criticised and in retrospect his government's cultivation of the housing bubble. Fairbrook's involvement in the TriMet scandal have particularly damaged his reputation.