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]
Mitzie Hunter | |
|---|---|
.png) Hunter in 2019 | |
| Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Scarborough—Guildwood | |
| In office August 1, 2013 – May 10, 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Margarett Best |
| Succeeded by | Andrea Hazell |
| Deputy Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party | |
| In office August 8, 2022 – May 10, 2023 | |
| Leader | John Fraser |
| Ontario Minister of Education | |
| In office June 13, 2016 – January 17, 2018 | |
| Leader | Kathleen Wynne |
| Preceded by | Liz Sandals |
| Succeeded by | Indira Naidoo-Harris |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Mitzie Jacquelin Hunter September 14, 1971 |
| Party | Liberal |
| University of Toronto (MBA, BA) | |
Background
editMitzie 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 Scarborough campus of 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]
She co-chaired John Tory's 2003 Mayoral bid. She was later CEO of CivicAction.[7]
Political career
editIn 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.[8] She faced Kirupa again in 2014 this time defeating him by 7,610 votes.[9]
In June 2014, she was appointed as associate minister for the Ministry of Finance responsible for the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan.[10]
As the Liberal MPP for Scarborough-Guildwood, Mitzie Hunter, introduced the Toronto Ranked Ballots Election Act in March 2014.[11] The bill passed the second reading, but died prematurely when the election was called.
On June 13, 2016, she was promoted to the senior position of minister of education.[12]
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.[13]
The Liberals suffered its worst electoral defeat in the 2018 Ontario provincial election both in terms of seat count (seven) and popular vote (19.6%), losing official party status at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. It was also the worst defeat of a governing party in Ontario history. However she was narrowly re-elected in the 2018 Ontario Election, by a factor of 74 votes, as one of 7 remaining MPPs.
In 2019, she attempted to change the Ontario Liberal Party away from a delegated convention, however she only reached 57% support, shy of the 66% of the vote she needed.[14] [15]
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.[16] She was re-elected in the 2022 Ontario general election.[17]
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.[18] Hunter lost the election to Olivia Chow, placing sixth with 2.9% of the vote.[19]
Cabinet positions
editElectoral record
edit| 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[20] | ||
| 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)
| ||||||||
| 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[21] | ||||||||
| 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[22] | ||||||||
| 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[23] | ||||||||
References
edit- ↑ Ferguson, Rob (2 May 2023). "Toronto mayoral candidate Mitzie Hunter reveals date she'll resign as MPP". Toronto Star. Torstar. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Foundation, Canadian Women's. "The Canadian Women's Foundation Welcomes New President and CEO". www.newswire.ca. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
- ↑ @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.
- ↑ Rushowy, Kristin (July 23, 2016). "At-risk students, special ed priorities for new Education Minister Mitzie Hunter". Toronto Star.
- ↑ "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.
- ↑ Sheikh, Iman (2015-04-22). "Six Degrees of John H. Tory: a peek at the high-powered Rolodex of our new Mayor McSchmooze". Toronto Life. Archived from the original on 2025-05-24. Retrieved 2026-05-01.
- ↑ "Liberal Mitzie Hunter nabs Scarborough riding seat". CBC News. August 1, 2013.
- ↑ "General Election by District: Scarborough-Guildwood". Elections Ontario. June 12, 2014. Archived from the original on June 17, 2014. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
- ↑ Richard Brennan; Robert Benzie; Rob Ferguson (June 24, 2014). "Kathleen Wynne warns financial cupboard is bare". Toronto Star.
- ↑ "Legislative Assembly of Ontario | Bills & Lawmaking | Past & Present | 40:2 Bill 166, Toronto Ranked Ballot Elections Act, 2014". Archived from the original on 2016-04-16. Retrieved 2016-04-02.
- ↑ "Kathleen Wynne's shuffled cabinet features 40% women". CBC News. June 13, 2016.
- ↑ "Wynne shuffling cabinet to add new blood and replace retiring ministers". Toronto Star. January 17, 2018.
- ↑ Chamandy, Aidan (27 Feb 2023). "Mitzie Hunter bows out of Liberal leadership". The Trillium. Archived from the original on 1 May 2026.
- ↑ "Liberal MPP takes aim at 'backroom decisions' in call for new leadership voting system". CBC News. 21 Jan 2019. Archived from the original on 1 May 2026.
- ↑ Gibson, Victoria (March 7, 2020). "Steven Del Duca named Ontario Liberal leader in first-ballot victory". iPolitics. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
- ↑ "Liberal Mitzie Hunter is re-elected in Scarborough—Guildwood". Toronto Star. June 2, 2022. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
- ↑ "Ontario Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter plans to resign seat to run for Toronto mayor". CBC News. March 22, 2023. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
- ↑ "Olivia Chow wins Toronto mayoral race to become first woman to lead the city since amalgamation". CP24. 2023-06-26. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
- ↑ "City of Toronto - City of Toronto Elections Result". electionresults.toronto.ca. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
- ↑ "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.
- ↑ "General Election Results by District, 082 Scarborough—Guildwood". Elections Ontario. 2014. Archived from the original on 17 June 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
- ↑ "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.