The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario is one of three major political parties in Ontario, Canada running in the 2007 Ontario provincial election. It has served as the Official Opposition since 2003, having previously formed two successive majority governments in 1995 and 1999.
The party ran a full state of 107 candidates. Though several candidates have their own biography pages, information about others may be found here.
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Bold indicates a non-incumbent, while italics indicate a candidate who defeated an incumbent of another party.
Mark Beckles (born 1964) was born in the United Kingdom and raised in Barbados. Beckles pursued his education in Barbados, Canada, and the United Kingdom, earning an MBA in International Business from Bradford University as well as certification in risk management. Embarking on a career as an insurance professional, Beckles spent 16 years working in senior positions in Canada and the Caribbean. As Vice President of one of the largest insurance brokers in the Caribbean, his clients included Colgate-Palmolive, Coca-Cola, Hilton Hotels and CIBC. He has also worked for large international insurers such as Zurich Insurance and General Accident, as well as served on the boards of several international business companies.
Daniel (Dan) McCreary was born in Brantford and has a Bachelor's degree in landscape architecture from the University of Toronto (1979). He worked in Calgary's contracting sector for ten years before returning to Brantford in 1990 to operate a small business.[1]
He wrote a political column for the Brantford Expositor from 1998 to 2003, covering municipal affairs from a right-wing vantage point. Brantford mayor Chris Friel was one of his most frequent targets, and at one stage Friel responded with a critical piece on McCreary facetiously titled, "Who will free us from this turbulent columnist?"[2] (Later, McCready said that Friel's reaction to his columns was mostly good natured.[3])
McCreary ran for mayor of Brantford in the 1994 municipal election and finished fifth in a field of six candidates. He was first elected to the Brantford city council in the 2003 election, at age forty-seven,[4] and was re-elected in 2006 and 2010. In January 2005, he became chair of Brantford's social services committee.[5] He has also served on the city's health and police boards.[6]
McCreary was president of Brant's Reform Party of Canada association in the mid-1990s.[7] He spoke against merging his party with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 1996 and 1998 and subsequently opposed Reform's United Alternative initiative in 1999.[8] He nonetheless joined the resultant Canadian Alliance in 2000 and became president of the party's Brant association.[9] McCreary later joined the Conservative Party of Canada, which was formed in 2003 by a merger of the Alliance and the federal Progressive Conservatives.[10]
He has served as president of the local Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario association.[11] In the 2007 election, he lost to two-term Liberal incumbent Dave Levac by a significant margin. He supported Jim Flaherty in the party's 2002 leadership election and backed Tim Hudak in 2009.[12]
| Election | Division | Party | Votes | % | Place | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 municipal | Mayor of Brantford | n/a | 1,094 | 4.29 | 5/6 | Chris Friel |
| 2003 municipal | Brantford City Council, Ward Three | n/a | 3,002 | 29.64 | 2/6 | Greg Martin and himself |
| 2006 municipal | Brantford City Council, Ward Three | n/a | 3,151 | 29.64 | 1/5 | himself and Greg Martin |
| 2007 provincial | Brant | Progressive Conservative | 13,787 | 28.86 | 2/6 | Dave Levac, Liberal |
| 2010 municipal | Brantford City Council, Ward Three | n/a | 3,004 | 28.28 | 1/5 | himself and Debi Dignan-Rumble |
A registered nurse, and a founding member of the Ontario Nurses Association Local 115. Has worked at the Toronto East General Hospital for thirty years. Also a trustee on the Toronto District Catholic School Board, representing Ward 11 in east Toronto. First elected in 2000, re-elected in 2003, and again in 2006. Her mother was the first female principal in the York Region.
Allison Graham is a long-time party member and activist. She was also a columnist for the London Free Press.
Bruce Fitzpatrick was raised in Peterborough and in New Jersey, where his father was transferred during his childhood. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Economics from the University of Toronto (1983) and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Queen's University in Kingston (1986).[13] Called to the bar in 1988, he originally practised law in Toronto before returning to Peterborough in 1993 to join the firm Lockington Lawless Fitzpatrick LLP.[14] Fitzpatrick has done fundraising work for the Kawartha Food Bank.[15] He also started a local history fundraising tour in 2006, has served on the board of Showplace Peterborough, and supports an effort to bring the Canadian Music Hall of Fame to the city.[16]
Fitzpatrick has said that he became politically active in the early 1990s as an opponent of Bob Rae's provincial government.[17] He chaired Canadian Alliance candidate Eric Mann's campaign in the 2000 federal election,[18] and he also served as present of the provincial Progressive Conservative association in Peterborough before running for office himself.[19] In 2001, he supported Tony Clement's bid to succeed Mike Harris as party leader.[20]
During the 2007 election, Fitzpatrick openly disagreed with his party's plan to extend public funding to faith-based schools.[21] Newspaper reports from before the election indicate that he was expected to have a credible chance of winning.[22] In the event, he received 13,176 votes (25.70%) to finish second against Liberal incumbent Jeff Leal.
Timms is a professional engineer, and operates Timms House and Building Inspections.[23] He is a municipal politician in St. Catharines. He was re-elected to a sixth consecutive term on the Niagara Regional Council in the 2006 St. Catharines municipal election. As of 2005, he was chair of the Public Health Services Committee.[1] Timms opposed extending the local anti-smoking bylaws in 2001[2], and in 2004 opposed an HIV-prevention poster that some in the community found offensive.[3]
Bruce Timms previously ran for this seat in 1990, receiving 3,926 votes (13.16%) and finishing a distant third against Liberal candidate and incumbent MPP Jim Bradley.
He received 12,861 votes (28.89%) in 2007, finishing a distant second. Losing once again to long time Liberal MPP Jim Bradley.
Louis Delongchamp was born and raised in Sudbury. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Laurentian University,and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Windsor. He has taught accounting courses at Algonquin College and Cambrian College, and managed family real estate properties at the time of the election. Delongchamp has also served as an executive member of the Sudbury Arts Council.[24] He was fifty-eight years old at the time of the election.[25]
In 2001, Delongchamp was appointed to the Sudbury Early Years Steering Committee by provincial cabinet minister John Baird.[26] He was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada at the federal level until 2003, when he supported its merger with the more right-wing Canadian Alliance to create the Conservative Party of Canada.[27] He received 2,605 votes (7.93%) in 2007, finishing third against Liberal incumbent Rick Bartolucci. He subsequently said that his party lost the election over its pledge to provide public funding for faith-based education.[28]
Robinson graduated from the University of Windsor with an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Criminology in 1994. While at the University of Windsor, she was elected President of the Student Council (UWSA), becoming the first female representative for over 10,000 full time undergraduate students. In 2004, while working full time, she attended the University of Windsor Faculty of Law and graduated with her Bachelor of Laws in June 2007. She is currently articling at Sullivan, Istl, Bornais LLP in Windsor. She feels it is time for an MPP in this riding who is able to tackle and resolve the issues faced by Windsorites — especially the border, diversification of the Windsor economy and the environment.
Sue-Ann Levy (born ca. 1956) is the municipal affairs columnist for the Toronto Sun daily tabloid newspaper in Toronto, Canada. Levy has a degree in journalism and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Toronto.[29]
Levy has been an ardent critic of Toronto Mayor David Miller referring to his administration as "socialist silly hall".[30]
Levy ran unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate in the September 17, 2009 by-election in St. Paul's riding, called to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Michael Bryant.[31] The by-election was won by Liberal candidate Eric Hoskins.
In June 2009, Levy married her girlfriend Denise Alexander at what was a traditional Jewish Wedding ceremony.[32]