| Paul Dewar MP |
|
|---|---|
| Member of the Canadian Parliament for Ottawa Centre |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2006 |
|
| Preceded by | Ed Broadbent |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 25, 1963 Ottawa, Ontario |
| Political party | New Democratic Party |
| Spouse(s) | Julia Sneyd |
| Residence | Ottawa |
| Profession | Labour and social activist, teacher, union officer, politician |
| Religion | United Church of Canada |
Paul W. Dewar (born January 25, 1963) is a Canadian politician currently serving as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Ottawa Centre.
Dewar is a member of the New Democratic Party (NDP) and was first elected to the House of Commons in the 2006 federal election. He previously served as the Official Opposition Critic for Foreign Affairs, till leaving the post in October 2011, to run for the leadership of the NDP. Before entering politics he worked as a teacher and was an elected representative of the Ottawa Carleton Elementary School Teachers' Federation.
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Paul W. Dewar was born in Ottawa, Ontario on January 25, 1963. He is the son of former Ottawa mayor and New Democratic Member of Parliament, Marion Dewar. When he was in grade 3 Dewar was diagnosed with dyslexia, after his teacher noticed that he was struggling to read and write.[1] He earned a Bachelor of Education degree from Queen's University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton University in political science and economics. Dewar was employed as constituency assistant to Evelyn Gigantes, when she was Ottawa Centre NDP Member of Provincial Parliament from 1990 to 1995.
Prior to entering politics, Dewar taught at D. Roy Kennedy Elementary School and Hopewell Elementary School. He won the A. Lorne Cassidy Award for work with children with special needs. Dewar was also the Vice President of the Ottawa Carleton Elementary School Teachers' Federation and helped establish the teachers' Humanity Fund, providing donations to projects in developing countries. Dewar is married to Julia Sneyd who is also a teacher. They have two children.
In 2002, Dewar organized a Community Forum on Public Education. He was actively involved with the Coalition for a Healthy Ottawa and the Partnership for a Pesticide Bylaw. He served on the board of the Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization and is active with the First United Church, Old Ottawa East Community Association and Fair Vote Canada.
Dewar ran for the New Democratic nomination in Ottawa Centre for the 2004 federal election, but lost to former party leader Ed Broadbent.[2] After losing, he went on to volunteer for Broadbent's successful campaign, playing a major role in organizing the NDP election day effort. In order to care for his ailing wife, Broadbent decided to decline an opportunity to seek re-election. Dewar won the proceeding nomination contest on June 22, 2005. He defeated returning candidate Jamey Heath, who had sought election in 1997, lawyer Tiffani Murray and Ottawa Citizen columnist Shannon Lee Mannion on the first ballot.
Dewar won the 2006 election and became an MP.
Dewar was acclaimed on February 12, 2007 as the New Democrats' candidate for the 2008 federal election. He was re-elected on October 14, 2008 by a substantial margin over his closest challenger, Penny Collenette of the Liberal Party.
Since February 5, 2009, Dewar has served as the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity.
In April 2009, Dewar reintroduced legislation to protect Gatineau Park. If passed the act would provide legislated boundaries for the park, prevent the removal of land from the park, create a mechanism for expanding the park, and respecting that some of the land belongs to private citizens.[3] However, he was later criticized in the media for having abandoned his commitments on the park, for supporting the Conservative government’s legislation, and for not attending the committee studying that legislation.[4][5]
Dewar was re-elected in the 2011 federal election, winning 52% of the popular vote.[6] The NDP formed the Official Opposition following the election and Dewar was named the Critic for Foreign Affairs. Following the death of Jack Layton in August 2011, Dewar was seen as a potential candidate to succeed him as the leader of the New Democrats. On October 2, 2011, Dewar announced his candidacy for the leadership of the party.[7]
| Canadian federal election, 2011 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |
| New Democrat | Paul Dewar | 33,704 | 52.03% | +12.29% | - | |
| Conservative | Damian Konstantinakos | 14,076 | 21.73% | -1.84% | - | |
| Liberal | Scott Bradley | 13,036 | 20.12% | -5.9% | - | |
| Green | Jen Hunter | 3,262 | 5.04% | -4.89% | - | |
| Marijuana | John Andrew Akpata | 326 | 0.5% | - | - | |
| Independent | Romeo Bellai | 227 | 0.35% | - | - | |
| Communist | Stuart Ryan | 109 | 0.17% | - | - | |
| Marxist–Leninist | Pierre Soublière | 44 | 0.07% | - | - | |
| Total valid votes | - | 100.00 | - | |||
Source: Elections Canada
| 2008 federal election : Ottawa Centre edit | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | +/- | Expenditures | |
| New Democratic Party | Paul Dewar | 25,399 | 39.74 | +2.81 | $74,532 | |
| Liberal | Penny Collenette | 16,633 | 26.02 | -3.18 | $85,082 | |
| Conservative | Brian McGarry | 15,065 | 23.57 | +0.87 | $85,487 | |
| Green | Jen Hunter | 6,348 | 9.93 | -0.22 | $41,577 | |
| Radical Marijuana | John Akpata | 378 | 0.59 | +0.01 | none listed | |
| Marxist-Leninist | Pierre Soublière | 95 | 0.15 | +0.05 | none listed | |
| Total valid votes/Expenditure limit | 63,918 | 100.00 | $91,849 | |||
| Total rejected ballots | 266 | 0.41 | ||||
| Turnout | 64,184 | 69.11 | ||||
| Electors on the lists | 92,877 | |||||
| New Democratic Party hold | Swing | +3.0 | ||||
| Canadian federal election, 2006 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||
| New Democrat | Paul Dewar | 24,611 | 36.93 | -4.2 | ||
| Liberal | Richard Mahoney | 19,458 | 29.2 | -1.9 | ||
| Conservative | Keith Fountain | 15,126 | 22.7 | +3.7 | ||
| Green | David Chernushenko | 6,766 | 10.15 | +2.7 | ||
| Marijuana | John Akpata | 386 | 0.58 | -0.1 | ||
| Independent | Anwar Syed | 121 | 0.18 | |||
| Communist | Stuart Ryan | 102 | 0.15 | +0.1 | ||
| Marxist–Leninist | Christian Legeais | 68 | 0.10 | 0.0 | ||
| Ottawa Center New Democratic Party Nomination Contest, 2006 | ||
| Candidate | Residence | June 22, 2005 |
|---|---|---|
| Tiffani Murray | Ottawa | |
| Jamey Heath | Ottawa | |
| Paul Dewar | Ottawa | X |
| Shannon Lee Mannion | Ottawa | |
| Ottawa Center New Democratic Party Nomination Contest, 2004 | ||
| Candidate | Residence | January 20, 2004 |
|---|---|---|
| Ed Broadbent | Ottawa | X |
| Paul Dewar | Ottawa | |