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Mitzie Hunter

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Mitzie Hunter
Hunter in 2019
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament
for Scarborough—Guildwood
In office
August 1, 2013 – May 10, 2023
Preceded byMargarett Best
Succeeded byAndrea Hazell
Deputy Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party
In office
August 8, 2022 – May 10, 2023
LeaderJohn Fraser
Ontario Minister of Education
In office
June 13, 2016 – January 17, 2018
LeaderKathleen Wynne
Preceded byLiz Sandals
Succeeded byIndira Naidoo-Harris
Personal details
Born
Mitzie Jacquelin Hunter

(1971-09-14) September 14, 1971 (age 53)
Jamaica
Political partyLiberal
Residence(s)Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Alma materUniversity of Toronto Scarborough, Rotman School of Management

Mitzie Jacquelin Hunter (born September 14, 1971) is a Canadian politician who represented Scarborough—Guildwood as a member of provincial parliament in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2013 to 2023. A member of the Ontario Liberal Party, Hunter was a provincial cabinet minister from 2014 to 2018 and was the deputy leader of the party from 2022 to 2023. She resigned from the Ontario legislature on May 10, 2023, in order to be a candidate for mayor of Toronto in the 2023 by-election, in which she placed sixth with 2.9% of the vote.[1][2] She is currently President and CEO of the Canadian Women's Foundation.[3]

Background

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Mitzie Jacquelin Hunter[4] was born in Jamaica on September 14, 1971. Her family immigrated to Canada in 1975, moving to Scarborough. Hunter graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts before earning a Master of Business Administration from the Rotman School of Management.[5]

She was CEO of the Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance, and was previously CAO of Toronto Community Housing. She also served as Vice President at Goodwill Industries of Toronto.[6]

Political career

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In 2013 she ran as the Liberal candidate in a by-election called to replace Margarett Best, a member of the Ontario Parliament who resigned for health reasons. She defeated Progressive Conservative candidate Ken Kirupa by 1,246 votes.[7] She faced Kirupa again in 2014 this time defeating him by 7,610 votes.[8]

In June 2014, she was appointed as associate minister for the Ministry of Finance responsible for the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan.[9] On June 13, 2016, she was promoted to the senior position of minister of education.[10]

On January 17, 2018, it was announced that Hunter would leave her position as minister of education to replace outgoing Deb Matthews as the minister of advanced education and skills development.[11]

On August 14, 2019, Hunter announced her candidacy for the 2020 Ontario Liberal Party leadership race. At the leadership convention on March 7, 2020, she finished fourth.[12] She was re-elected in the 2022 Ontario general election.[13]

Hunter became deputy leader of the Ontario Liberals and was considered a possible candidate in the 2023 Ontario Liberal Party leadership election. However, in March 2023, she said that she would be resigning her seat as an MPP to run in the 2023 Toronto mayoral by-election.[14] Hunter lost the election to Olivia Chow, placing sixth with 2.9% of the vote.[15]

Cabinet positions

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Ontario provincial government of Kathleen Wynne
Cabinet posts (3)
Predecessor Office Successor
Deb Matthews Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development
2018 (January–June) 		Merrilee Fullerton
Liz Sandals Minister of Education
2016-2018 		Indira Naidoo-Harris
New position Associate Minister of Finance
2014-2016
Responsible for Ontario Retirement Pension Plan 		Indira Naidoo-Harris

Electoral record

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2023 Toronto mayoral by-election
Candidate Votes %
Olivia Chow 268,676 37.17
Ana Bailão 234,647 32.46
Mark Saunders 62,017 8.58
Anthony Furey 35,839 4.96
Josh Matlow 35,516 4.91
Mitzie Hunter 21,170 2.93
Chloe Brown 18,763 2.60
95 other candidates 46,249 6.39
Total 722,877 100.00
Source: City of Toronto[16]


2022 Ontario general election: Scarborough—Guildwood
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
Liberal Mitzie Hunter 13,405 46.31 +12.96 $87,259
Progressive Conservative Alicia Vianga 9,123 31.51 −1.62 $78,144
New Democratic Veronica Javier 4,824 16.66 −10.96 $42,008
Green Dean Boulding 818 2.83 +0.38 $381
New Blue Opa Hope Day 366 1.26   $1,980
Ontario Party William Moore 265 0.92   $0
People's Political Party Kevin Clarke 148 0.51 +0.09 $0
Total valid votes/Expense limit 28,949 99.12 +0.32 $98,214
Total rejected, unmarked, and declined ballots 256 0.88 -0.32
Turnout 29,205 41.63 -11.55
Eligible voters 69,754
Liberal hold Swing +7.29
Source(s)
  • "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 2022. Archived from the original on 2023-05-18.
  • "Statistical Summary by Electoral District" (PDF). Elections Ontario. 2022. Archived from the original on 2023-05-21.
2018 Ontario general election: Scarborough—Guildwood
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Mitzie Hunter 11,972 33.34 -16.72
Progressive Conservative Roshan Nallaratnam 11,898 33.14 +5.42
New Democratic Tom Packwood 9,917 27.62 +10.7
Green Linda Rice 878 2.45 -0.49
Libertarian Hamid-Reza Dehnad-Tabatabaei 445 1.24 -0.12
Trillium George Marcos Garvida 419 1.17
Special Needs Wanda Ryan 159 0.44
The People Heather Dunbar 151 0.42
Independent Benjamin Mbaegbu 66 0.18
Total valid votes 35,905 100.0  
Liberal hold Swing -11.05
Source: Elections Ontario[17]
2014 Ontario general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Mitzie Hunter 17,498 50.06 +14.21
Progressive Conservative Ken Kirupa 9,688 27.72 -3.08
New Democratic Shuja Syed 5,915 16.92 -11.43
Green Jeffrey W. R. Bustard 1,029 2.94 +0.79
Libertarian Richard Kerr 476 1.36 +0.87
Freedom Khalid Mokhtarzada 228 0.65 +0.33
Canadians' Choice John Sawdon 120 0.34  
Total valid votes 34,954 100.0  
Liberal hold Swing +8.64
Source: Elections Ontario[18]
Ontario provincial by-election, August 1, 2013
Resignation of Margarett Best
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Mitzie Hunter 8,852 35.85 -13.09
Progressive Conservative Ken Kirupa 7,605 30.80 +2.15
New Democratic Adam Giambrone 7,000 28.35 +8.93
Green Nick Leeson 532 2.15 +0.86
Independent Jim Hamilton 195 0.79  
Special Needs Danish Ahmed 183 0.74  
Libertarian Heath Thomas 120 0.49 -0.79
Family Coalition Raphael Rosch 104 0.42  
Freedom Matthew Oliver 80 0.32 -0.10
The People Bill Rawdah 22 0.09  
Total valid votes 24,693 100.00
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots 180 0.72
Turnout 24,873 35.83
Eligible voters 69,425
Liberal hold Swing -7.62
Source: Elections Ontario[19]

References

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  1. ^ Ferguson, Rob (2 May 2023). "Toronto mayoral candidate Mitzie Hunter reveals date she'll resign as MPP". Toronto Star. Torstar. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  2. ^ Elvidge, John D. (28 June 2023). "Declaration of Results s. 55(4) of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 2023 By-Election for Mayor Monday, June 26, 2023" (PDF). City of Toronto. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  3. ^ Foundation, Canadian Women's. "The Canadian Women's Foundation Welcomes New President and CEO". www.newswire.ca. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  4. ^ @ONPARLeducation (July 13, 2022). "Within the halls of the Legislature are walls that contain the names of every Member of Provincial Parliament elected to Ontario's Legislature since 1867" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5. ^ Rushowy, Kristin (July 23, 2016). "At-risk students, special ed priorities for new Education Minister Mitzie Hunter". Toronto Star.
  6. ^ "Ontario Liberals Announce Mitzie Hunter As Candidate For Scarborough-Guildwood". ontarioliberal.ca. June 13, 2017. Archived from the original on March 26, 2018. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  7. ^ "Liberal Mitzie Hunter nabs Scarborough riding seat". CBC News. August 1, 2013.
  8. ^ "General Election by District: Scarborough-Guildwood". Elections Ontario. June 12, 2014. Archived from the original on June 17, 2014. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  9. ^ Richard Brennan; Robert Benzie; Rob Ferguson (June 24, 2014). "Kathleen Wynne warns financial cupboard is bare". Toronto Star.
  10. ^ "Kathleen Wynne's shuffled cabinet features 40% women". CBC News. June 13, 2016.
  11. ^ "Wynne shuffling cabinet to add new blood and replace retiring ministers". Toronto Star. January 17, 2018.
  12. ^ Gibson, Victoria (March 7, 2020). "Steven Del Duca named Ontario Liberal leader in first-ballot victory". iPolitics. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  13. ^ "Liberal Mitzie Hunter is re-elected in Scarborough—Guildwood". Toronto Star. June 2, 2022. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
  14. ^ "Ontario Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter plans to resign seat to run for Toronto mayor". CBC News. March 22, 2023. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  15. ^ "Olivia Chow wins Toronto mayoral race to become first woman to lead the city since amalgamation". CP24. 2023-06-26. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  16. ^ "City of Toronto - City of Toronto Elections Result". electionresults.toronto.ca. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  17. ^ "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 December 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  18. ^ "General Election Results by District, 082 Scarborough—Guildwood". Elections Ontario. 2014. Archived from the original on 17 June 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  19. ^ "Summary of Valid Ballots Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-05-05. Retrieved 2014-05-05.
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