Jeff Burch
Jeff Burch | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Niagara Centre | |
| Assumed office June 7, 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Cindy Forster |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | New Democratic |
| Residence(s) | Thorold, Ontario |
| Occupation | Non profit executive director / CEO , President of Steel Workers Union |
Jeff Burch is a Canadian politician, who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 2018 provincial election.[1] He represents the electoral district of Niagara Centre as a member of the Ontario New Democratic Party.
Prior to his election to the legislature Burch was the executive director of Niagara Folk Arts, a non–profit social services agency, and served as city councillor for Merritton Ward for St. Catharines City Council.
Electoral record
| 2018 Ontario general election: Niagara Centre | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| New Democratic | Jeff Burch | 21,618 | 44.23 | −2.49 | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | April Jeffs | 18,333 | 37.51 | +9.09 | ||||
| Liberal | Benoit Mercier | 5,779 | 11.82 | −7.93 | ||||
| Green | Joe Dias | 1,803 | 3.69 | −0.42 | ||||
| None of the Above | Joe Crawford | 623 | 1.27 | |||||
| Libertarian | Patrick Pietruszko | 368 | 0.75 | −0.24 | ||||
| Independent | Steve Soos | 217 | 0.44 | |||||
| The People | Dario Smagata-Bryan | 133 | 0.27 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 48,874 | 100.0 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Ontario[2] | ||||||||
Background
Jeff Burch is a graduate from Brock University, with an honours BA in philosophy. Burch then spent three years as a graduate student and teaching assistant at Brock, teaching seminars in social issues and women's studies. He left his studies in 1996 after being elected president of a United Steelworkers local union.[3]
Politics
Burch ran as the Ontario New Democratic Party's candidate in St. Catharines in 1995, losing to Liberal Jim Bradley.[4][better source needed] He was elected as a city councillor in St. Catharines, Ontario, in 2006. He served from 2006 to 2014, including four years as budget chair.[5] He ran for mayor of St. Catharines in 2014, losing to Walter Sendzik by fewer than 2000 votes.
In February 2019, Burch won the NDP nomination in Niagara Centre.[6] The riding has been an NDP stronghold for 44 years with Mel Swart, Peter Kormos and Cindy Forster holding the seat. On June 8, 2019, Burch won the seat.[7] Burch currently serves as the Official Opposition critic for Municipal Affairs.[8]
Three months after his election in 2018, he scored a major victory by winning unanimous support for his motion to bring two-way all-day GO Transit rail service to Niagara.[9]
References
- ^ "Blue wave stops in Niagara ". Niagara This Week, June 7, 2018.
- ^ "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 6. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
- ^ "Our Campaigns - Candidate - Jeff Burch". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
- ^ "Template:Ontario provincial election, 1995/St. Catharines", Wikipedia, 2015-09-05, retrieved 2019-08-17
- ^ Johnson, Nathaniel (2018-06-05). "Provincial election: Niagara Centre riding profile". StCatharinesStandard.ca. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
- ^ Média, Bell. "Jeff Burch wins NDP nomination in Niagara Centre". www.iheartradio.ca. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
- ^ Johnson, Nathaniel (2018-06-07). "Burch maintains NDP dynasty". StCatharinesStandard.ca. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
- ^ "Jeff Burch | Legislative Assembly of Ontario". www.ola.org. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
- ^ Benner, Allan (2018-09-28). "Province commits to 2023 for GO train". StCatharinesStandard.ca. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
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