Joe Swan

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Joseph B. Swan is an ex-politician from London, Ontario, Canada. He was born in Scotland but moved to London with his family at an early age.

After graduating with a degree in business and political science from the University of Western Ontario in 1985, Swan was elected to London City Council in 1988. In addition to being the executive director of Information London, he spent four, three-year terms as a city councillor representing Ward Two, and a fifth term on London's Board of Control (2000-2003).

Swan announced his retirement from municipal politics prior to the November, 2003, civic election, working as the executive director of the Unity Project until the late summer of 2005.

On March 30, 2004, he won the federal New Democratic Party nomination for the riding of London North Centre, but was defeated by Liberal candidate Joe Fontana in the 2004 election. Swan previously worked with NDP leader Jack Layton through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

In September of 2005, Swan announced that he would be travelling overseas with his wife and two children on September 12, 2005, to assist Third World countries in east Africa and southeast Asia recover from the devastating tsunami on Boxing Day of 2004, where approximately 300,000 people lost their lives.

Swan returned to London, Ontario, with his wife and children in September of 2006.