Noel Duignan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Noel Duignan (born December 20, 1948 in Dublin, Ireland) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1995.
Before running for office himself, Duignan was an executive assistant to federal New Democratic Party MPs Derek Blackburn and Kyle Kristiansen. He is a recipient of the Canada Medal.
Duignan was elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1990 provincial election, defeating incumbent Liberal Walt Elliot by 548 votes in the riding of Halton North (the Progressive Conservative candidate was a close third). He was the first, and is to date the only candidate of a social-democratic party to win a federal or provincial election in Halton County. The NDP won an unexpected majority government in this election, and Duignan served as a parliamentary assistant from 1993 to 1995.
The NDP lost the 1995 provincial election, and Duignan was defeated in his personal bid for re-election, finishing a distant third against Progressive Conservative candidate Ted Chudleigh (he had the lowest percentage of any incumbent in this election, losing his deposit with only 13.8%). He ran for re-election in the 1999 provincial election in the riding of Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey, but finished third against Progressive Conservative incumbent David Tilson.
He ran as a candidate of the federal NDP in the 2004 Canadian election, but finished third against Conservative Michael Chong in the riding of Wellington—Halton Hills.
Duignan was trained in mediation by J.P. Ryan and Associates and the Law Society of Upper Canada, and is a member of mediate.ca. He now works as a housing consultant, and is a director of Brant Alcove Rehabilitation Services, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre based in Brantford, Ontario. Duignan is also a member of Family Mediation Canada, the Ontario Association for Family Mediation, Conflict Resolution Network Canada, and the Co-Operative Housing Federation of Canada. He lives in Georgetown, Ontario.
