Jeff Leal
| Jeff Leal | |
|---|---|
| MPP for Peterborough | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office October 2, 2003 |
|
| Preceded by | Gary Stewart |
| Chief Government Whip in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2010 |
|
| Preceded by | Mike Colle |
| Member of the Peterborough City Council for Otonabee Ward with Glenn Pagett (1985-1997) and Nancy Branscombe (1997-2000) |
|
| In office 1985–2003 |
|
| Succeeded by | Paul Rexe and Garry Herring |
| Personal details | |
| Born | December 13, 1954 Peterborough, Ontario |
| Political party | Liberal |
Jeff Leal (born December 13, 1954) is a politician in the Canadian province of Ontario. He has represented Peterborough in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario since 2003 as a member of the Ontario Liberal Party.
Contents |
[edit] Early life and municipal career
Leal was born and raised in Peterborough.[1] He has a Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Political Science from Trent University (1978) and a degree in Business Administration from the University of Windsor (1981). He served on the Peterborough city council from 1985 to 2003, representing the Otonabee Ward, and also worked as executive assistant to Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) John Eakins and Larry South in the 1980s.[2] In private life, he was a health and safety representative for Coyle Corrugated Containers before his election to the provincial legislature.[3]
Leal sided with a majority of Peterborough councillors in rejecting the Alliance for the Preservation of English in Canada's call for a referendum to declare Peterborough a unilingual anglophone city in 1988.[4]
In 2000, Leal cast a symbolic vote against granting $535,000 under the National Child Benefit reinvestment plan to agencies that provide services for the poor. He explained that his vote was a protest against management of this program by Mike Harris's provincial government, in which monies earned by welfare recipients in the Ontario Works program were diverted to the agencies in question. While he acknowledged that these organizations did useful work, Leal argued that the money would be better spent if kept by the actual recipients. Other councillors agreed with Leal's argument, but added they were powerless to change the system at the local level.[5]
Leal chaired Peterborough's social services committee after the 2000 municipal election and also served on a committee that looked into the future prospects of the Peterborough Memorial Centre.[6] In early 2002, he argued that the existing building should be renovated rather than replaced.[7]
In 2002, Leal voted against construction of a parkway through the city's protected green space.[8] The following year, he voted for a motion opposing the American invasion of Iraq.[9] Leal opposed the proclamation of a gay pride day for Peterborough in 2003, although he later attended the city's Pride parade as a Member of Provincial Parliament.[10]
[edit] Legislator
Leal first ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1999 provincial election and was narrowly defeated by Progressive Conservative incumbent Gary Stewart. He defeated Stewart by over six thousand votes in a 2003 rematch, amid a provincial shift to the Liberal Party.[11] The Liberals won a majority government in the latter election under Dalton McGuinty's leadership, and Leal entered the legislature as a government backbencher. He helped secure provincial funding for Peterborough following a damaging flood in mid-2004.[12]
On September 27, 2004, Leal was named parliamentary assistant to the minister of Training, Colleges and Universities.[13] On July 4, 2005, he was reassigned as parliamentary assistant to the minister of Economic Development and Trade and in this capacity chaired the Small Business Agency of Ontario.[14] Leal later became parliamentary assistant to the minister of Energy in November 2005 and to the minister of the Environment in September 2006.[15] In the latter capacity, he chaired a series of information sessions about Ontario's Clean Water Act.[16]
In early 2006, Leal introduced a private member's bill to ban advertisements for websites linked to online gambling sites not licensed by the federal or provincial governments.[17] The provincial government introduced its own legislation on the subject later in the year, based on Leal's bill.[18]
Leal was expected to face a difficult challenge in the 2007 provincial election.[19] He was instead re-elected with an increased majority, helped in part by the provincial government's creation of a new hospital in his riding.[20] Shortly after the election, he was named as parliamentary assistant to the minister of Aboriginal Affairs. In February 2010, he was promoted to Chief Government Whip.[21]
Leal introduced a private member's bill in 2008 to provide creditor protection for Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs).[22] Two years later, he introduced a separate bill that would require companies with twenty or more employees to offer a savings or pension plan that all employees would automatically join (with the ability to opt out). The latter bill also proposed a new legal framework that would allow insurers and other institutions to create large plans covering workers in different companies, the self-employed, and workers who switch jobs after starting a plan. The stated purpose of this bill, which was supported by the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, was to reduce the costs of such insurance plans compared with retail mutual funds.[23] The New Democratic Party of Ontario strongly opposed the bill on the argument that it would benefit the insurance industry at the expense of consumers, as well as forestalling renewed investment in the Canada Pension Plan.[24]
[edit] Federal politics
Leal supported Gerard Kennedy's bid to lead the Liberal Party of Canada in 2006.[25]
[edit] Electoral record
- Provincial
| 2007 Ontario provincial election : Peterborough edit | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | +/- | Expenditures | |
| Liberal | (x)Jeff Leal | 24,466 | 47.72 | +3.61 | $95,432 | |
| Progressive Conservative | Bruce Fitzpatrick | 13,176 | 25.70 | -7.32 | $89,425 | |
| New Democratic Party | Dave Nickle | 8,523 | 16.62 | -1.78 | $33,229 | |
| Green | Miriam Stucky | 4,473 | 8.72 | $10,163 | ||
| Family Coalition Party | Paul Morgan | 634 | 1.24 | $0 | ||
| Total valid votes | 51,272 | 100.00 | ||||
| Rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | 241 | |||||
| Turnout | 51,513 | 57.47 | ||||
| Electors on the lists | 89,627 | |||||
Note: Percentage changes are factored for redistribution. Sources: Official 2007 Poll by Poll Results and 2007 Annual Returns, Candidate and Constituency Associations, Elections Ontario.
| 2003 Ontario provincial election : Peterborough edit | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | +/- | Expenditures | |
| Liberal | Jeff Leal | 24,626 | 44.74 | +4.54 | $59,358 | |
| Progressive Conservative | (x)Gary Stewart | 18,418 | 33.46 | -11.53 | $83,317 | |
| New Democratic Party | Dave Nickle | 9,796 | 17.80 | +4.80 | $22,783 | |
| Green | Tim Holland | 1,605 | 2.92 | +1.82 | $6,817 | |
| Family Coalition Party | Max Murray | 414 | 0.75 | $212 | ||
| Independent | Bob Bowers | 178 | 0.32 | +0.05 | not listed | |
| Total valid votes | 55,037 | 100.00 | ||||
| Rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | 245 | |||||
| Turnout | 55,282 | 62.76 | -0.01 | |||
| Electors on the lists | 88,080 | |||||
| 1999 Ontario provincial election : Peterborough edit | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | +/- | Expenditures | |
| Progressive Conservative | (x)Gary Stewart | 24,422 | 44.99 | $66,248 | ||
| Liberal | Jeff Leal | 21,820 | 40.20 | $45,608 | ||
| New Democratic Party | Dave Nickle | 7,058 | 13.00 | $26,105 | ||
| Green | Larry Tyldsley | 598 | 1.10 | $1,651 | ||
| Independent | Bob Bowers | 151 | 0.28 | $862 | ||
| Independent | Kenneth T. Burgess | 125 | 0.23 | not listed | ||
| Natural Law | Robert Mayer | 106 | 0.20 | $0 | ||
| Total valid votes | 54,280 | 100.00 | ||||
| Rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | 297 | |||||
| Turnout | 54,577 | 62.77 | ||||
| Electors on the lists | 86,951 | |||||
- Municipal (partial)
| Candidate | Total votes | % of total votes |
|---|---|---|
| (x)Jeff Leal | 3,461 | 41.15 |
| Glenn Pagett | 3,182 | 37.83 |
| Allan Deck | 1,768 | 21.02 |
| Total valid votes | 8,411 | 100.00 |
[edit] External links
- Jeff Leal's official MPP Site
- Jeff Leal's Ontario Liberal Party biography
- Ontario Legislative Assembly Parliamentarian History
[edit] References
- ^ "The Fierce Fights," National Post, 11 October 2007, A10.
- ^ Bill Hodgins, "'Lefty' after city seat for Grits," Peterborough Examiner, 27 September 2003, A1. The article title is an ironic reference to Leal's golf swing, not to his political leanings.
- ^ Mike Lacey, "Jeff Leal's been down this road before...and loves it," Peterborough This Week, 17 September 2003, p. 00.
- ^ John Driscoll, "Peterborough says no to vote on bilingualism," Toronto Star, 28 September 1988, A12.
- ^ Joseph Kim, "City OKs grants for aid groups," Peterborough Examiner, 9 May 2000, A1.
- ^ "Arena committee to hit the road," Peterborough Examiner, 28 February 2001, B1; "Plans for social housing portfolio on agenda," Peterborough Examiner, 22 May 2001, B2.
- ^ JoElle Kovach, "Councillor leans toward building new arena for city," Peterborough Examiner, 2 February 2002, A1.
- ^ JoElle Kovach, "Parkway assessment: Why it was rejected," Peterborough Examiner, 10 August 2002, B1.
- ^ JoElle Kovach, "Council votes to ask Ottawa to stay out of Iraq conflict," Peterborough Examiner, 14 February 2003, A1.
- ^ Blair Edwards, "'Out of the blue'; Councillors express shock, dismay over mayor's Pride Day proclamation," Peterborough This Week, 1 August 2003, p. 00; Brendan Wedley, "Gay pride to spill onto streets Saturday," Peterborough Examiner, 3 September 2003, B2.
- ^ Leal won the Liberal nomination without opposition in 2003. See "Juanita Losch, "Local Liberals confident they'll win Gary Stewart/Jeff Leal rematch," Peterborough Examiner, 14 September 2002, B1.
- ^ Robert Benzie, "$5 million in aid for Peterborough; 'Just a down payment,' says McGuinty," Toronto Star, 22 July 2004, A2; "City gets more flood aid; Province to give extra $3.5 million 3,200 relief requests in Peterborough," Canadian Press, Toronto Star, 7 September 2004, A2.
- ^ "Premier McGuinty Appoints New Parliamentary Assistants," Canada NewsWire, 27 September 2004, 17:43.
- ^ "Premier McGuinty Strengthens Team by Appointing MPPs to Key Positions" [press release], Canada NewsWire, 4 July 2005, 13:26.
- ^ "MPP Leal named to new position," Peterborough This Week, 4 November 2005, p. 00.
- ^ Jeff Leal - Biography, Jeff Leal, accessed 8 September 2010.
- ^ Lee Greenberg, "MPP's bill targets ads for online gaming," Ottawa Citizen, 28 February 2006, A4; Ian Urquhart, "Rise of Internet gambling raising concerns," Toronto Star, 24 April 2006, A19.
- ^ Peter Nowak, "Ontario moves to end illegal Web gambling: Can't advertise site," National Post, 19 October 2006, A2.
- ^ Ian Urquhart, "Tory's new riding one of 15 key races," Toronto Star, 4 September 2007, A1; James Cowan, "Tight races may turn tide in province," 26 September 2007, A9.
- ^ Roy MacGregor, "A magnet for politicians and media," Globe and Mail, 14 September 2007, A9.
- ^ "Jeff Leal replaces Mike Colle as Ontario chief government whip on Tuesday," Canadian Press, 13 February 2010, 12:58.
- ^ "Now's time to shield RRSPs from creditors," Toronto Star, 23 May 2009, B1; "RRSP, RRIF protection gets hearing," Toronto Star, 9 June 2009, B5.
- ^ James Daw, "Bill would make retirement savings plans mandatory," Toronto Star, 6 May 2010, B2.
- ^ Andrea Horwath, "Resist insurance lobby, expand CPP," National Post, 9 June 2010, FP15.
- ^ "Kennedy team discloses list of MPP supporters," Toronto Star, 22 June 2006, A2.
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