Paul Ferreira

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Paul Ferreira
Paul Ferreira
In office
February 19, 2007 – Present
Preceded by Joe Cordiano (Liberal)
Succeeded by Incumbent
Constituency York South—Weston
Born January 7, 1973
Azores, Portugal
Political party New Democratic Party
Residence Toronto, Ontario
Occupation public relations
Religion Roman Catholic

Paul Ferreira is a Canadian social democratic politician and one of the first openly gay politicians in the Portuguese-Canadian community.[1] He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a member of the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) in the February 8, 2007 York South–Weston by-election.[2]


Contents

[edit] Early life and education

Paul Ferreira was born in the Azores on January 7, 1973. Along with his family, he immigrated to Canada in 1979. They settled in Brampton, Ontario.[3]. He attended primary and secondary schools in the Brampton area and went on to study and graduate from Ottawa's Carleton University.[3]. Ferreira is an honours graduate of Carleton University’s School of Journalism, where he received awards for academic excellence and community involvement. He speaks English, French and Portuguese.[3]

[edit] Involvement with the NDP

Ferreira's parents were trade unionists, and he followed their example by becoming a union steward for a local drugstore while still in high school[1]. His union experience attracted him to the NDP [1]. Since 1990, Ferreira has held numerous positions in the NDP. He was Vice President of Outreach for the New Democratic Youth of Canada from 1997 to 1999, he served on the Ontario NDP's executive from 2002 to 2004 and he was co-chair of the party's LGBT Committee for a number of years. He has also been active with numerous community groups.[4]

[edit] Professional life

Professionally, Ferreira served as the manager of member relations with the Canadian Society for Training and Development. He also co-edited the society's national magazine, the Canadian Learning Journal. From 2001 to 2004, Ferreira was part of the management team at one of Canada's largest business intelligence firms. Previously, he was North American manager of public relations for a British-based multinational. He also spent two years as manager of communications and media relations for the North American Broadcasters Association.

[edit] Political life

[edit] First election, 1997

Main article: Canadian federal election, 1997

Ferreira got his start as a political activist in 1990 when he joined the New Democratic Party (NDP). After completing a journalism degree at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ferreira returned to Brampton and was the federal NDP candidate in the riding of Brampton Centre in the 1997 election. He finished fourth in the race. [5]

Canadian federal election, 1997
Party Candidate Votes
     Liberal ASSADOURIAN, Sarkis 18,615
     Reform CRAWFORD, Don 10,817
     Progressive Conservative HUNDAL, Sam S. 5,621
     New Democrat FERREIRA, Paul 2,923
     Marxist-Leninist VACHON, André 127


[edit] York South–Weston federal election 2004

Main article: Canadian federal election, 2004

In the spring of 2004, Paul Ferreira became the NDP's federal candidate in the west-end Toronto riding of York South—Weston. His main opponent was the incumbent Liberal member of parliament (MP) and former Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto chair Alan Tonks. The main issues in the election, and these were not limited to just York South–Weston, included anger over the governing Liberal party's Sponsorship scandal[6]; Health care; and the first budget by the Dalton McGuinty provincial Liberal government, which included the controversial "Ontario Health Premiums" tax. [7]

Despite the many set-backs that confronted the main Liberal campaign [6], Tonks won the election[8] . Ferreira placed a respectable second. His campaign revived the NDP in York South–Weston by tripling the popular vote to over 21 percent (Tom Parkin, the NDP candidate in the 2000 election, received only 3.7 percent of the vote).

Canadian federal election, 2004
Party Candidate Votes
     Liberal Alan Tonks 20,537
     New Democratic Party Paul Ferreira 7,281
     Conservative Stephen Halicki 5,133
     Green Jessica Fracassi 1,199
     Communist Shirley Hawley 175


[edit] York South–Weston federal election 2006

Main article: Canadian federal election, 2006

Subsequently, he ran again for the same federal office in the 2006 election. The election results were basically a repeat of the previous election, with Tonks finishing first and Ferreira in second place.[9]

2006 federal election : York South—Weston edit
Party Candidate Votes % Expenditures
     Liberal Alan Tonks 22,871 57.06% $36,134.39
     New Democratic Party Paul Ferreira 8,525 21.26% $24,432.95
     Conservative Stephen Halicki 6,991 17.44% $22,529.03
     Green Maria De Angelis-Pater 1,506 3.75% $1,002.89
     Independent Dragan Cimesa 189 0.47% N/A


[edit] Toronto municipal election, 2006

Main article: Toronto municipal election, 2006

He was also a candidate for Toronto City Council in the 2006 Toronto municipal election, finishing second in Ward 11.

[edit] Ward 11 York South—Weston

Candidate Votes %
Frances Nunziata (incumbent) 6469 49.6
Paul Ferreira 4812 36.9
Rocky Gualtieri 1235 9.5
Pansy Mullings 526 4.0


[edit] Ontario provincial by-election, 2007

Main article: Ontario provincial by-elections, 2007

Paul Ferreria receiving congratulations from former NDP leader Donald C. Macdonald on Election Night.

Paul Ferreira speaking at his victory celebration, February 8, 2007

Current NDP Leader Howard Hampton and Paul Ferreira accepting victory in the York south–Weston by-election

Former NDP Leader Donald C. MacDonald passing-on the symbolic generational torch.

The provincial riding of York South—Weston, which corresponds closely to the boundaries of the federal riding [10], at the time of the by-election was considered a Liberal stronghold. Historically, the York South part of the riding had been a CCF/NDP stronghold from the mid 1950s starting with Donald C. MacDonald to the mid 1990s with Bob Rae. After Rae resigned from the Legislature, the only NDP candidate that even came close to a victory was David Miller (currently Toronto's mayor, at the time a Metro councillor for Ward One), in the 1996 by-election.

The February 2007 by-election was necessitated by the resignation of former Liberal Member of Provincial Parliament Joe Cordiano, who resigned his seat in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the fall of 2006 to spend more time with his family [11].

At the January 13, 2007 York South–Weston NDP nomination meeting,Ferreira successfully ran against Brian Donlevy to be the Ontario New Democratic Party candidate in the February 8, 2007 by-election. As the party's candidate, he campaigned on the following issues: the $10 hourly minimum wage [12]; the proposed Blue22 train to Toronto Pearson Airport [13]; the recent wage increases to members of the Ontario Legislature [13].

February 8, 2007 was a very cold day, and that may have been a contributing factor in the low voter turnout. When the polling stations closed at 8:00 p.m., it took two hours to count the ballots and declare Ferreira the winner. At his victory party, Donald C. MacDonald (the former Ontario CCF/NDP leader from the 1953 to 1970 and local area MPP for almost thirty years), joined Ferreira onstage in a symbolic passing of the generational torch ceremony [12]. One of the coincidences of this NDP election victory was, that it came almost exactly 65 years to the day, when the CCF first won York South, in the February 9, 1942 by-election. In that election Joseph Noseworthy won a surprise victory, similar to Ferreira's.


York South-Weston riding map 2003.jpg from Elections Ontario
York South-Weston riding map 2003.jpg from Elections Ontario
By-election, February 8, 2007[14]
Party Candidate Votes % +/-
     New Democrat Paul Ferreira 8,188 43.3% +24.0%
     Liberal Laura Albanese 7,830 41.4% -20.2%
     Progressive Conservative Pina Martino 1,941 10.3% -4.9%
     Green Mir Kamal 262 1.4% -1.1%
     Independent Kevin Clarke 220 1.2% -
     Independent Mohammed Choudhary 142 0.8% -
     Family Coalition Mariangela Sanabria 139 0.7% -0.8%
     Libertarian Nunzio Venuto 98 0.5% -
     Freedom Wayne Simmons 77 0.4% -


On February 19, 2007, Paul Ferreira was sworn in as the tenth member of the NDP caucus in the Ontario Legislature.[15] In the NDP Caucus, Ferreira holds the following critic portfolios: Housing; Citizenship and Immigration.[16]

Ferreira will be up for re-election on October 10, 2007, the Ontario General Election.

[edit] Reference

  1. ^ a b c Gulliver, Tanya. "Any straight candidates left?", Xtra, 2004-05-27. Retrieved on 2007-01-21. (in English)
  2. ^ Elections Ontario, Unofficial results [York South-Weston]. 216 of 216 polls reporting. Accessed February 8, 2007.
  3. ^ a b c Bio (HTML). Ontario New Democratic Party (2007-01-17). Retrieved on 2007-01-20.
  4. ^ New Democratic Party of Canada (2004-04-30). Meet Paul Ferreira. Press release. Retrieved on 2004-05-02.
  5. ^ Kingsley, Jean-Pierre (1997-08-22). Report of the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada on the 36th General Election (HTML). Elections Canada, Government of Canada. Retrieved on 2007-01-20.
  6. ^ a b MacGREGOR, Roy. "In Ontario, anger is taking the lead in an election bereft of a major issue", The Globe and Mail, 2004-05-28, pp. 1. Retrieved on 2007-01-21. (in English)
  7. ^ Urquhart, Ian. "In Politics, misery loves company" (PDF), Toronto Star, June 12, 2004. Retrieved on 2006-12-03.
  8. ^ Kingsley, Jean-Pierre (2004-10-21). Report of the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada on the 38th General Election (HTML). Elections Canada, Government of Canada. Retrieved on 2007-01-20.
  9. ^ Kingsley, Jean-Pierre (2006-05-12). Report of the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada on the 39th General Election (HTML). Elections Canada, Government of Canada. Retrieved on 2007-01-20.
  10. ^ New electoral boundaries (HTML). Elections Ontario, Government of Ontario (DECEMBER 2005). Retrieved on 2007-01-19.
  11. ^ Campbell, Murray, KAREN HOWLETT. "NDP grabs Liberal seat in Ontario by-elections", The Globe and Mail, 2007-02-09, pp. 1. Retrieved on 2007-02-11. (in English)
  12. ^ a b Kim, Clarke (2007-02-09). Fourth time the charm for Ferreira (HTML). The York Guardian. Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
  13. ^ a b Campbell, Murray (2007-02-02). Pay hike haunts by-election (HTML). The Globe and Mail. Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
  14. ^ Elections Ontario, Unofficial results [York South-Weston]. 216 of 216 polls reporting. Accessed February 8, 2007.
  15. ^ Benzie, Robert. "NDP formula = a perfect 10: Party welcomes 10th MPP after running on appeal to raise minimum wage", The Toronto Star, 2007-02-20. Retrieved on 2007-02-21. (in English)
  16. ^ Paul Ferreira, MPP York South–Weston (English). Ontario NDP Website. Ontario NDP (2007-02-28). Retrieved on 2007-03-12.

[edit] See also


[edit] External links

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