As part of our coverage of the federal election, Investment Executive profiles candidates who are working or who have worked in the financial services industry.

Here we look at Mark Holland, Liberal candidate in the Ontario riding of Ajax-Pickering.

Mark Holland, the Liberal incumbent for Ajax-Pickering, believes debt management is the most pressing financial issue facing the country today.

“First and foremost is the continuation of paying down our debt and being deficit-free,” says the former RBC Dominion Securities Inc. and CIBC investment advisor. “In order to be able to attract investments and be seen as a stable place to do business, Canada needs to keep bringing down its debt-to-GDP ratio. I know we set the target of 25% as a debt-to-GDP ratio, but we have to stay focused on that.”

He adds that it’s easy to get sidetracked given the pressures to spend money elsewhere, but paying down debt should come first.

Second, he says, is cutting taxes. “We have to find ways to ensure Canada has a competitive environment to attract new investment . . . and to make it an attractive place to work and invest. That means targeted tax reductions and that includes corporate tax reductions.”

He believes most participants in the financial services industry are contented with the country’s financial state. Most questions Holland receives from members of the investment industry are, predictably, about tax relief.

On the insurance and banking side, he finds the most pressing issue to be whether banks should be allowed to sell insurance in their branches, one that has been on the table for years. “The smaller insurance brokers are saying banks shouldn’t be allowed [to sell insurance in the branches] because the branch networks would have a monopoly,” he says.

The issue of a national securities regulator, he says, has not been raised with him by constituents or by investment industry representatives. “It is something that I do support,” he says.”

Born in 1974, Holland is described by the Liberal party as “part of a new wave of dynamic young members of Parliament.”

After entering municipal politics in 1997, he pared his investment advisory work down to part-time and eventually phased it out, devoting his full attention to politics. He was elected to federal Parliament in the 2004 federal election.

Holland was appointed to the Liberal Caucus Committee on Cities and Communities. He served as vice chair of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, was an associate member of several other standing committees and is a member of the Greater Toronto Area Caucus.

He believes a financial background is key to working in government. “I think it’s extremely important to have an understanding of issues that relate to the financial sector to be able to be competent in a lot of different elements of government,” he says. “I was obviously was selected for those positions [on the Finance Committee and the Public Accounts Committee] because of my financial services background.

Why does he run?

“To make a difference in my country, difference for my community, to make it a better place,” he says. “To fight for the vision that I have for Canada and for my community to be able to make a difference in people’s lives. I can’t think of anything more rewarding than that.”