Gordon James O'Connor, (born May 18, 1939) is a retired Brigadier-General, businessman, lobbyist, and was a Conservative Member of Parliament from 2004 to 2015. He served as Minister of National Defence (2006-2007) and then Minister of National Revenue (2007-2008) in the cabinet of Stephen Harper. O'Connor was one of the few defence ministers to have served in the military, the most recent prior to O'Connor being Gilles Lamontagne. In 2008 he was demoted to Minister of State and Chief Government Whip and then dropped from cabinet entirely in 2013 and did not run for re-election in 2015. Early life and family Born in Toronto, Ontario, he has a B.Sc. in Mathematics and Physics from Concordia University (Montreal) and a BA in Philosophy from York University. O'Connor is married and has two children. He currently resides in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata, Ontario, where he has lived for over 25 years. Military career He served over 30 years in the Canadian Army, starting as a second lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps and retired at the rank of brigadier-general. O'Connor then entered the private sector as Vice-President of Business Development for a large facility management firm, and Vice-President of Operations for a vehicle testing centre. He was a Senior Associate with Hill & Knowlton Canada, a worldwide public relations, public affairs and strategic communications company. O'Connor has also been a lobbyist for several defence companies. These companies include: BAE Systems (1996 to 2004), General Dynamics (1996 to 2001), Atlas Elektronik GmbH (1999 to 2004), and Airbus Military (2001 to 2004). Parliamentary career He was elected in the 2004 elections as a Conservative candidate in the Ottawa riding of Carleton—Mississippi Mills with slightly more than 50% of the vote. After winning he became Defence Critic for the Official Opposition. His vote share increased in the 2006 election and again in the 2008 election. He is an honorary member of the Royal Military College of Canada Club, S157. O'Connor was initially expected to contest Kanata—Carleton, essentially the Ottawa portion of his old riding, in the 2015 election. However, on May 20, 2014, O'Connor announced he would retire after the next election. According to his office manager, John Aris, O'Connor simply decided it was time to leave politics. Cabinet selection Though somewhat muted by the higher profile issues in the naming of David Emerson and Michael Fortier to the cabinet, the posting of