Mitzie Hunter

Mitzie Hunter (born September 14, 1971) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She is a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario who was first elected in a by-election on August 1, 2013 and later re-elected in the elections of 2014 and 2018. She represents the Toronto riding of Scarborough—Guildwood. She served as a member of cabinet in the government of Kathleen Wynne. She was a candidate for the 2020 Ontario Liberal Party leadership election. She was a candidate for the 2020 Ontario Liberal Party leadership election, having placed fourth place with 5.7% of the ballot.[1]

Mitzie Hunter

MPP
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament
for Scarborough—Guildwood
Assumed office
September 9, 2013
Preceded byMargarett Best
Personal details
Born (1971-09-14) September 14, 1971
Jamaica
Political partyLiberal
ResidenceToronto, Ontario, Canada
Alma materUniversity of Toronto at Scarborough, Rotman School of Management
OccupationPolitician

Background

Hunter and her family immigrated to Canada from Jamaica in 1975. She grew up in Scarborough, graduated from the University of Toronto with a BA, and completed her MBA from the Rotman School of Management.[2]

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.[3]

Politics

In 2013 she ran as the Liberal candidate in a by-election called to replace Margarett Best who resigned due to health reasons. She defeated Progressive Conservative candidate Ken Kirupa by 1,246 votes.[4] She faced Kirupa again in 2014 this time defeating him by 7,610 votes.[5]

In June 2014, she was appointed as an Associate Minister for the Ministry of Finance responsible for the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan.[6] On June 13, 2016, she was promoted to the senior position of Minister of Education.[7]

On January 17, 2018, it was announced that Ms. Hunter would leave her position as Minister of Education to replace outgoing Deb Matthews as the new Minister of Advanced Education and Skills Development.[8]

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.[9]

Cabinet positions
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
2018 Ontario general election: Scarborough—Guildwood
Party Candidate Votes%±%
LiberalMitzie Hunter11,97233.34-16.72
Progressive ConservativeRoshan Nallaratnam11,89833.14+5.42
New DemocraticTom Packwood9,91727.62+10.7
GreenLinda Rice8782.45-0.49
LibertarianHamid-Reza Dehnad-Tabatabaei4451.24-0.12
TrilliumGeorge Marcos Garvida4191.17
Special NeedsWanda Ryan1590.44
The PeopleHeather Dunbar1510.42
IndependentBenjamin Mbaegbu660.18
Total valid votes 35,905100.0  
Liberal hold Swing -11.05
Source: Elections Ontario[10]
2014 Ontario general election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
LiberalMitzie Hunter17,49850.06+14.21
Progressive ConservativeKen Kirupa9,68827.72-3.08
New DemocraticShuja Syed5,91516.92-11.43
GreenJeffrey W. R. Bustard1,0292.94+0.79
LibertarianRichard Kerr4761.36+0.87
FreedomKhalid Mokhtarzada2280.65+0.33
Canadians' ChoiceJohn Sawdon1200.34 
Total valid votes 34,954 100.0  
Liberal hold Swing +8.64
Source: Elections Ontario[11]
Ontario provincial by-election, August 1, 2013
Resignation of Margarett Best
Party Candidate Votes%±%
LiberalMitzie Hunter8,85235.85-13.09
Progressive ConservativeKen Kirupa7,60530.80+2.15
New DemocraticAdam Giambrone7,00028.35+8.93
GreenNick Leeson5322.15+0.86
IndependentJim Hamilton1950.79 
Special NeedsDanish Ahmed1830.74 
LibertarianHeath Thomas1200.49-0.79
Family CoalitionRaphael Rosch1040.42 
FreedomMatthew Oliver800.32-0.10
The PeopleBill Rawdah220.09 
Total valid votes 24,693 100.00
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots 1800.72
Turnout 24,873 35.83
Eligible voters 69,425
Liberal hold Swing -7.62
Source: Elections Ontario[12]

References
  1. "Former cabinet minister Steven Del Duca elected new Ontario Liberal leader".
  2. Rushowy, Kristin (July 23, 2016). "At-risk students, special ed priorities for new Education Minister Mitzie Hunter". Toronto Star.
  3. "Ontario Liberals Announce Mitzie Hunter As Candidate For Scarborough-Guildwood". ontarioliberal.ca. June 13, 2017.
  4. "Liberal Mitzie Hunter nabs Scarborough riding seat". CBC News. August 1, 2013.
  5. "General Election by District: Scarborough-Guildwood". Elections Ontario. June 12, 2014. Archived from the original on June 17, 2014. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  6. Richard Brennan; Robert Benzie; Rob Ferguson (June 24, 2014). "Kathleen Wynne warns financial cupboard is bare". Toronto Star.
  7. "Kathleen Wynne's shuffled cabinet features 40% women". CBC News. June 13, 2016.
  8. "Wynne shuffling cabinet to add new blood and replace retiring ministers". Toronto Star. January 17, 2018.
  9. Gibson, Victoria (March 7, 2020). "Steven Del Duca named Ontario Liberal leader in first-ballot victory". iPolitics. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  10. "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.
  11. "General Election Results by District, 082 Scarborough—Guildwood". Elections Ontario. 2014. Archived from the original on 17 June 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  12. "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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