Olivia Chow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
| Incumbent | |
|---|---|
| Riding | Trinity—Spadina |
| In office since | 2006 Federal Election |
| Preceded by | Tony Ianno |
| Born | March 24, 1957 Hong Kong |
| Residence | Toronto, Ontario |
| Political party | |
| Profession(s) | Politician |
| Spouse | Jack Layton |
Olivia Chow (鄒至蕙, pinyin: Zōu Zhìhuì) (born March 24, 1957) is a social democratic Canadian Member of Parliament and former city councillor (1991-2005) in Toronto. Born in Hong Kong, Chow immigrated to Canada when she was thirteen years old. As a result, she enjoys fluency in two of her constituency's dominant languages, Cantonese and English. She won the Trinity—Spadina riding for the New Democratic Party on January 23, 2006, becoming a member of the Canadian House of Commons. Chow is married to NDP leader Jack Layton.
Contents |
[edit] Municipal career
Chow first became active in politics working with local NDP MP Dan Heap. With his support, she ran for school board trustee, and won in 1985. Popular on the school board, she was elected to Toronto city council in 1991. Ward 20 (Ward 24 from 1997-2006), in the riding of Trinity—Spadina, has long been home to a diverse group of communities in the core of Canada's largest urban centre. Chow was re-elected several times to city council by wide margins.
As city councilor, Chow was an advocate for the homeless, public transit, and many other urban issues that promote sustainable development. She was also been a vociferous opponent of the proposed Toronto Island Airport expansion, a controversial plan by the Toronto Port Authority that would increase air traffic over Ward 20.
Following the amalgamation of Metropolitan Toronto, she and her husband Jack Layton were prominent members of the city council. While sometimes critical of pro-development mayor Mel Lastman and other suburban councillors, they worked with councillors across political lines to achieve practical progressive measures. Layton left his seat on council to become federal leader of the NDP. Both were strong supporters of David Miller's successful 2003 campaign to become Mayor of Toronto.
Chow was forced to resign her position on the Toronto Police Services Board as a result of comments she made about police attempts to quell riots in front of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Some argued, however, that she was ousted for her outspoken attitude towards alleged police misconduct.
Chow was renowned for her trademark bicycle, decorated with flowers and bright colours. She rode every day to Toronto City Hall, and carless commuting is consistent with her environmentalist values.
Chow was voted "Best City Councillor" [citation needed] on numerous occasions by Toronto's alternative weeklies Now Magazine and Eye Weekly.
[edit] Federal politics
In 1997, Chow ran as the New Democratic Party candidate for the Canadian House of Commons in Trinity—Spadina. Chow came close to defeating Liberal Party incumbent Tony Ianno, the margin apparently a reaction to the election-eve mobbing of then Prime Minister Jean Chrétien by NDP supporters.
In 2004, Chow again won the Trinity—Spadina NDP nomination for the summer federal election, giving her another chance to unseat Tony Ianno of the Liberal Party. Her other opponents primarily were David Watters of the Conservatives and Anna Costa of the Green party. With support from Jack Layton, a new urban focus of the NDP, and higher party popularity nationwide, she was widely expected to win despite some criticism from voters who elected her to a municipal seat just six months prior. She managed another strong second place showing, but failed to unseat Ianno by only 2% of the total vote.
On her third run, January 23, 2006, she won the Trinity—Spadina seat for the NDP in the federal election. She defeated Ianno by 3,667 votes, almost 6%. Along with Jack Layton she is part of only the second husband and wife team in Canadian parliamentary history. (Gurmant Grewal and Nina Grewal were the first, winning their seats in the 2004 election.) Chow had resigned her city council seat of fourteen years on November 28, 2005 to run, and was succeeded on city council by Martin Silva.
[edit] Outside of politics
Chow championed the novel Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood in the 2005 edition of Canada Reads.
In 2005, she revealed that she had undergone surgery for thyroid cancer in 2004. She decided to speak out in order to raise awareness of the disease. [1]
| Preceded by: Tony Ianno, Liberal Party of Canada |
Member of Parliament from Trinity—Spadina 2006- |
Succeeded by: incumbent |
| Preceded by: |
Toronto City Councillor for Trinity—Spadina 1991-2006 |
Succeeded by: Martin Silva - temporary appointment |
[edit] Electoral Record
| 2006 federal election : Trinity—Spadina edit | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Expenditures | ||
| New Democratic Party | Olivia Chow | 28,748 | 46.03% | $78,702.00 | ||
| Liberal | Tony Ianno | 25,067 | 40.13% | $66,373.15 | ||
| Conservative | Sam Goldstein | 5,625 | 9.00% | $22,878.5 | ||
| Green | Thom Chapman | 2,398 | 3.83% | $165.00 | ||
| Progressive Canadian | Asif Hossain | 392 | 0.62% | $256.70 | ||
| Marxist-Leninist | Nick Lin | 138 | 0.22% | N/A | ||
| Canadian Action | John Riddell | 82 | 0.13% | $25.00 | ||
| Total valid votes | 62,450 | 100.00% | ||||
| Total rejected ballots | 278 | |||||
| Turnout | 62,728 | 70.9% | ||||
| 2004 federal election : Trinity—Spadina edit | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | Expenditures | ||
| Liberal | Tony Ianno | 23,202 | 43.55% | $68,821.44 | ||
| New Democratic Party | Olivia Chow | 22,397 | 42.03% | $77,070.48 | ||
| Conservative | David Watters | 4,605 | 8.64% | $34,598.25 | ||
| Green | Mark Vitala | 2,259 | 4.24% | $1,329.97 | ||
| Progressive Canadian | Asif Hossain | 531 | 0.99% | $23.78 | ||
| Marxist-Leninist | Nick Lin | 102 | 0.19% | $163.73 | ||
| Canadian Action Party | Tristan Alexander Downe-Dewdney | 91 | 0.17% | N/A | ||
| N/A (Popular Democratic) | Daniel Knezetic | 89 | 0.16% | $3,102.59 | ||
| Total valid votes | 53,276 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 329 | |||||
| Turnout | 53,605 | 63.7% | ||||
| 1997 federal election : Trinity—Spadina edit | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |||
| Liberal | Tony Ianno | 18,215 | 45.2 | |||
| New Democrat | Olivia Chow | 16,413 | 40.7 | |||
| Progressive Conservative | Danielle Wai Mascall | 2,793 | 6.9 | |||
| Reform | Nolan Young | 1,649 | 4.0 | |||
| Green | Sat Singh Khalsa | 392 | 1.0 | |||
| Natural Law | Ashley Deans | 194 | 0.6 | |||
| Independent | John Roderick Wilson | 159 | 0.5 | |||
| Marxist-Leninist | J.-P. Bedard | 140 | 0.4 | |||
| Canadian Action | Thomas P. Beckerle | 130 | 0.3 | |||
| Independent | Roberto Verdecchia | 129 | 0.3 | |||
[edit] External links
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements | 1957 births | Current Members of the Canadian House of Commons | Living people | Toronto city councillors | Members of the Canadian House of Commons from Ontario | New Democratic Party of Canada MPs | Canada Reads panelists | Cancer survivors | LGBT rights activists | Chinese Canadians from Hong Kong | Overseas Chinese politicians
