BIOGRAPHY

The Honourable David Pratt is Principal of David Pratt & Associates, a government relations and strategic consultancy firm located in Ottawa, Canada. Mr. Pratt was an elected representative at the municipal, regional and federal levels for 16 years.

First elected to the House of Commons in 1997, he was Chair of the Standing Committee on National Defence and Veterans Affairs from 2001 to 2003. He also served two foreign ministers as a Special Envoy to Sierra Leone during the rebel war and currently serves as the Honorary Consul for Sierra Leone in Canada. He became Canada’s 36th Minister of National Defence in 2003 in the Government of Prime Minister Paul Martin. As Minister, he initiated several major military procurements including the Joint Support Ship, the Fixed Wing Search and Rescue aircraft, the Maritime Helicopter Program and the Mobile Gun System.

After his political career, he spent four years in the role of Special Advisor to the Secretary General of the Canadian Red Cross where his focus was improving relations between the Red Cross and all levels of government. He wrote a major report on the role of the Red Cross as “Auxiliary to Government” and helped draft legislation to renew the mandate of the organization.

In 2009-2010, he worked as an independent consultant and spent five months in Baghdad, Iraq as a Senior Parliamentary Expert with the USAID sponsored Iraq Legislative Strengthening Program – the largest legislative capacity building project in the world. Mr. Pratt has written scholarly papers and newspaper articles and lectured on a number of subjects including Canada’s Army Reserves, grand strategy, democracy promotion, foreign intelligence, Canada-US interoperability and emergency preparedness. He has also provided briefings on defence and security matters to allied foreign militaries.

As the Principal of David Pratt & Associates, he and his Associates have served a variety of large and small clients. These include Raytheon, L3Harris, Israel Aerospace Industries, Leonardo Aircraft and Leonardo Defence, John Deere, Oshkosh Defense, Nexter, Huntington Ingalls, CGI, Armatec and AlumaPower.

On a personal note, in 2014, he was inducted as a Knight in the Order of St. George. In 2018, he participated in the prestigious Oxford Union debates at Oxford University and in 2022, he completed his first triathlon.