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John McCallum
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John McCallum
John McCallum PC (9 April 1950 – 21 June 2025) was a Canadian politician, economist, diplomat and university professor. A onetime Liberal Member of Parliament (MP), McCallum served as the Canadian Ambassador to China from 2017 until being asked to resign by Prime Minister Trudeau in 2019. As an MP, he represented the electoral district of Markham—Thornhill and had previously represented Markham—Unionville and Markham. He was a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada.
A veteran federal politician who began his political career in 2000, McCallum served in the governments of Liberal prime ministers Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin, and Justin Trudeau. McCallum was previously appointed Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions), Minister of National Defence, Minister of Veterans Affairs, and Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.
McCallum was born in Montreal, Quebec, the son of Joan (Patteson) and Alexander Campbell McCallum. He received his secondary education at Selwyn House School and Trinity College School. He held a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queens' College, Cambridge University, a diplôme d'études supérieures from Université de Paris I, and a PhD degree in economics from McGill University.
McCallum spent his initial working years in Winnipeg, working as a civil servant for NDP Premier Ed Schreyer and as a professor of economics at the University of Manitoba from 1976 until 1978. He taught at Simon Fraser University from 1978 until 1982, at the Université du Québec à Montréal from 1982 until 1987, and return to McGill University in 1987. He served as McGill's dean of arts when his future boss Justin Trudeau was a student there. He was an honorary member of the Royal Military College of Canada, student No. S139.
One of his most influential academic contributions was an article in the American Economic Review, which introduced the concept of the home bias in trade puzzle. It has spawned an ongoing international debate [citation needed] on whether trade within a nation state is greater than trade among nations, as compared with the predictions of standard economic models.
As McGill University's dean of arts, McCallum secured a $10 million contribution from Charles Bronfman for the establishment of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. He also participated in the national unity debates of the early 1990s, editing the Canada Round Series of the C. D. Howe Institute and engaged in debate with then Opposition Leader Jacques Parizeau at Quebec's National Assembly. He left McGill to become senior vice-president and chief economist of the Royal Bank of Canada in 1994.
McCallum was the Royal Bank of Canada's chief economist for six years. He consistently achieved the highest media coverage of bank chief economists, making regular appearances on CBC's The National as an economics panellist. With these media appearance he developed a reputation for cogent outspokenness. His frank assessment early in his tenure attributing Canada's high unemployment to Bank of Canada tight money policy, while generally uncontentious from an academic standpoint, was noted as surprising by both mainstream and financial sector journalists.
He also engaged in social issues, notably a 1997 Royal Bank conference designed to align the business community with the recommendations of the 1996 Report on the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. His paper at that conference, "The Cost of Doing Nothing", was highlighted ten years later in the Aboriginal Times magazine.
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John McCallum
John McCallum PC (9 April 1950 – 21 June 2025) was a Canadian politician, economist, diplomat and university professor. A onetime Liberal Member of Parliament (MP), McCallum served as the Canadian Ambassador to China from 2017 until being asked to resign by Prime Minister Trudeau in 2019. As an MP, he represented the electoral district of Markham—Thornhill and had previously represented Markham—Unionville and Markham. He was a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada.
A veteran federal politician who began his political career in 2000, McCallum served in the governments of Liberal prime ministers Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin, and Justin Trudeau. McCallum was previously appointed Secretary of State (International Financial Institutions), Minister of National Defence, Minister of Veterans Affairs, and Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.
McCallum was born in Montreal, Quebec, the son of Joan (Patteson) and Alexander Campbell McCallum. He received his secondary education at Selwyn House School and Trinity College School. He held a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queens' College, Cambridge University, a diplôme d'études supérieures from Université de Paris I, and a PhD degree in economics from McGill University.
McCallum spent his initial working years in Winnipeg, working as a civil servant for NDP Premier Ed Schreyer and as a professor of economics at the University of Manitoba from 1976 until 1978. He taught at Simon Fraser University from 1978 until 1982, at the Université du Québec à Montréal from 1982 until 1987, and return to McGill University in 1987. He served as McGill's dean of arts when his future boss Justin Trudeau was a student there. He was an honorary member of the Royal Military College of Canada, student No. S139.
One of his most influential academic contributions was an article in the American Economic Review, which introduced the concept of the home bias in trade puzzle. It has spawned an ongoing international debate [citation needed] on whether trade within a nation state is greater than trade among nations, as compared with the predictions of standard economic models.
As McGill University's dean of arts, McCallum secured a $10 million contribution from Charles Bronfman for the establishment of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. He also participated in the national unity debates of the early 1990s, editing the Canada Round Series of the C. D. Howe Institute and engaged in debate with then Opposition Leader Jacques Parizeau at Quebec's National Assembly. He left McGill to become senior vice-president and chief economist of the Royal Bank of Canada in 1994.
McCallum was the Royal Bank of Canada's chief economist for six years. He consistently achieved the highest media coverage of bank chief economists, making regular appearances on CBC's The National as an economics panellist. With these media appearance he developed a reputation for cogent outspokenness. His frank assessment early in his tenure attributing Canada's high unemployment to Bank of Canada tight money policy, while generally uncontentious from an academic standpoint, was noted as surprising by both mainstream and financial sector journalists.
He also engaged in social issues, notably a 1997 Royal Bank conference designed to align the business community with the recommendations of the 1996 Report on the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. His paper at that conference, "The Cost of Doing Nothing", was highlighted ten years later in the Aboriginal Times magazine.
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