Richard Pollock

Richard Pollock is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He campaigned for the Canadian House of Commons in 2002 and 2004, as a candidate of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Pollock was born in Nuoro, Italy, and is fluent in English, French and Italian ("Windsor Star", 20 February 1999). He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Windsor and a language diploma from the Université de Droit, D'Economie et des Sciences D'Aix-Marseilles. He has studied law at Université Laval and the University of Detroit, and is a partner with the firm Mousseau, DeLuca, McPherson, Prince LLP. He has taught trial advocacy for the Law Society of Upper Canada, and was special assistant to the federal Minister of Agriculture in 1983-84. [http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes2004/riding/209/#rp]

Pollock has served as a federal prosecutor since 1988, and has secured manyhigh-profile drug convictions (eg. "Star", 16 January 1992). He also spoke out in support of Lebanese refugees against apparent border discrimination in 1989 ("Star", 26 August 1989). In 1990, he was a local organizer for Jean Chrétien's bid to lead the federal Liberal Party ("Star", 5 January 1990). He sought the Liberal nomination in Windsor—St. Clair for a 1999 by-election, but lost to Rick Limoges ("Star", 19 February 1999).

After veteran Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) Herb Gray resigned his seat in 2002, Pollock was chosen over Dana Howe to be the Liberal Party's candidate in a Windsor West by-election ("Star", 18 March 2002). By this time, Pollock supported Paul Martin's bid to succeed Chrétien as Liberal leader ("Globe and Mail", 11 May 2002). He lost the by-election to Brian Masse of the New Democratic Party, due in part to local divisions within the Liberal Party. Pollock later worked as a Martin organizer in Windsor West, during the formal leadership campaign in 2003 ("Star", 23 July 2003).

He was chosen without opposition as the Windsor West Liberal candidate for the 2004 federal election ("Star", 26 February 2004), and lost a second time to Masse by an increased margin.