He was born in
Moose Jaw,
Saskatchewan to Jack and Kay Collins. In addition, he studied economics and political science at
Simon Fraser University. For the
1996 election he moved to the riding of
Vancouver-Little Mountain, and was re-elected with 50.3% of the vote. In opposition, he served as Official Opposition House Leader and held a variety of critic roles, including labour, investment and finance. With the Little Mountain riding dissolved and redistributed ahead of the
2001 provincial election, he ran in the newly established riding of
Vancouver-Fairview, and was re-elected by a margin of 7,813 votes. The Liberals formed government following that election, and Collins was appointed to the cabinet that June by Premier
Gordon Campbell to serve as Minister of Finance; he was also named Government House Leader. For his first budget, Collins raised the
provincial sales tax by half a percentage point to 7.5%, and increased tobacco tax and
medicare premiums; a $4.4 billion deficit was forecast for that fiscal year. He went on to announce the Liberal government's first balanced budget in 2004. In December 2004, Collins announced his decision to resign as Minister of Finance and Vancouver-Fairview MLA effective immediately, and became the CEO of
Harmony Airways. He left that position in December 2006; the airline ceased operations a few months later. He then became a senior vice-president with Belkorp Industries, before being named president of
Coastal Contacts in August 2012. ==Personal life==