Political Career
Dryden joined the Liberal Party of Canada and ran for the House of Commons in the federal election held in June 2004. Dryden had been selected by Prime Minister Paul Martin as a "star candidate" in what is considered a safe Liberal riding. Earlier, on May 13, 2004, incumbent Art Eggleton announced that he would not run for re-election, paving the way for Dryden to contest the Toronto riding of York Centre.
While campaigning, a letter sent to Dryden by Ya'acov Brosh, Consul-General of Israel in Toronto was put in Dryden's campaign literature, allegedly without Brosh's permission. Brosh worried that the letter would be misconstrued as political interference. The Consul-General did give permission to "circulate" the letter but insisted that it was not intended to be any kind of endorsement. The letter was sent to Dryden thanking him for his participation in a ceremony commemorating the 10th anniversary of the assassination of former Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Dryden was elected to Parliament and was named to Cabinet as Minister of Social Development. He made headlines on February 16, 2005, as the target of a remark by Conservative Member of Parliament Rona Ambrose who said about Dryden, "working women want to make their own choices, we don't need old white guys telling us what to do." Dryden won generally favourable reviews for his performance in Cabinet.
On November 5, 2005, Dryden as Minister of Social Development obtained early-learning and child care deals with all 10 provinces. He was re-elected in the 2006 federal election. The Liberals were defeated and Paul Martin resigned the party leadership. Interim party and opposition leader Bill Graham named Dryden to his shadow cabinet as health critic. Dryden lost his seat in the 2011 Canadian federal elections to Mark Adler.
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