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Gila Martow

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Gila Martow
Vaughan City Councillor
for Ward 5 Thornhill
Incumbent
Assumed office
November 15, 2022
Preceded byAlan Shefman
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Francophone Affairs
In office
November 29, 2018 – November 23, 2020
MinisterCaroline Mulroney
Preceded byAmanda Simard
Succeeded byNatalia Kusendova
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament
for Thornhill
In office
February 13, 2014 – June 2, 2022
Preceded byPeter Shurman
Succeeded byLaura Smith
Personal details
Born
Gila Deborah Gladstone

(1961-06-05) June 5, 1961 (age 63)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Political partyIndependent (2022-)
Other political
affiliations		Progressive Conservative (2014-2022)
ResidenceThornhill, Ontario
Alma materUniversity of Waterloo School of Optometry and Vision Science
OccupationOptometrist

Gila Deborah Gladstone-Martow[1] (née Gladstone; born June 5, 1961) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She has represented Ward 5 on Vaughan City Council since 2022. She previously represented the electoral district of Thornhill in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a member of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party from 2014 to 2022.[2] Martow did not seek re-election in the 2022 Ontario general election after unsuccessfully seeking the federal Conservative nomination in 2021. Martow returned to municipal politics in her successful election bid in the 2022 Vaughan Municipal Election.

Background

Originally from Chomedey, Quebec, Martow was an optometrist. She and her husband, an ophthalmologist, jointly ran an eye clinic at the Markham Stouffville Hospital.[3]

Martow's maternal grandparents lived on a kibbutz organized by the Hashomer Hatzair Marxist-Zionist[4] youth movement in the early 1930s in Mandatory Palestine (later to become Israel).[5] Martow attended the socialist movement's summer camp, Camp Shomria, from 1973 to 1977. The camp's Mia Gladstone Art Program is named in memory of Martow's mother.[6]

Political activism

In 2007, she was a spokesperson for the Multi-Faith Coalition. During the provincial election that year, she supported Progressive Conservative leader John Tory's plan to create funding among Ontario’s private faith-based schools. She said, "By not funding non-Catholic faith-based schools, there is going to be social unrest. This is discrimination against non-Catholics."[7]

Ontario legislature

In early 2014, she ran in a by-election in the riding of Thornhill to replace the retiring Peter Shurman. She defeated Liberal candidate Sandra Yeung Racco on February 13, 2014.[2] Four months later she ran again in the 2014 provincial election. She faced Racco again in a rematch. Initially, Racco was declared the winner but the decision was reversed the next day following the official Elections Ontario tally of the vote. Martow was declared the winner by 85 votes.[8] A recount was done and Martow was declared the winner on June 23, 2014, by a margin of 106 votes.[9]

On December 1, 2016, Martow presented a motion in the legislature rejecting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel. It passed by a vote of 49–5 with the governing Liberals, and PCs supporting, and NDP opposing.

In the past, Martow has served as the PC Critic for Intergovernmental Affairs (2014) and as the Anti-Racism Secretariat (2016). She then served in the shadow cabinet as the critic for: Children, Youth, and Families; GTA Issues; and Francophone Affairs until 2018.[10]

After the Progressive Conservatives formed government following the 2018 provincial election, Martow was appointed Parliamentary Assistant to Labour Minister Laurie Scott by Premier Doug Ford.[11] On November 29, 2018, Premier Ford announced that Martow would become the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Francophone Affairs, Caroline Mulroney and that Jane McKenna would take over her position as the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Labour.

In January 2021, she attracted controversy after breaking a COVID-19 lockdown to visit her cottage over Christmas.[12][13]

Failed federal nomination bid and departure

In early 2021, Martow ran unsuccessfully for the federal Conservative nomination in Thornhill,[14] where she was defeated by Melissa Lantsman.[15][16] As a result of announcing her candidacy for the federal nomination, she was required to relinquish her Parliamentary Assistant role in the provincial legislature and was not permitted to run in the 2022 Ontario general election as a Progressive Conservative candidate.

Municipal politics

Martow announced her candidacy for Vaughan City Council in Ward 5 on May 4, 2022, for the 2022 municipal election.[17] Martow previously ran for the same ward in the 2010 municipal election, losing to incumbent Alan Shefman. After Shefman defeated Gila Martow's supported candidates in 2014 (Josh Martow, her son) and 2018 (Allan Goldstein), Martow eventually defeated Shefman in a 2022 rematch by 1,104 votes (7,142 - 6,341).

Election results

Municipal

2022 Vaughan election,
Ward 5 		Vote %
Gila Martow 6601 54.56%
Alan Shefman (x) 5497 45.44%
2010 Vaughan election, Ward 5[18]
Candidate Votes
Alan Shefman (x) 5,561
Gila Martow 4,279
Bernie Green 2,898
Vernon Hendrickson 1,870
Yehuda Shahaf 694
Stellios Missirlis 231

Provincial

2018 Ontario general election: Thornhill
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Gila Martow 28,889 61.13 +17.18
New Democratic Ezra Tanen 9,134 19.33 +11.17
Liberal Sabi Ahsan 6,985 14.78 -29.00
Green Rachel Dokhoian 1,043 2.21 -0.27
Libertarian Mike Holmes 621 1.31 +0.15
None of the Above Above Znoneofthe 410 0.87
Moderate Aleksei Polyakov 177 0.37
Total valid votes 47,261 100.0  
Progressive Conservative hold Swing +13.24
Source: Elections Ontario[19]
2014 Ontario general election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Gila Martow 21,886 43.95 -3.94
Liberal Sandra Yeung Racco 21,780 43.78 +2.18
New Democratic Cindy Hackelberg 4,052 8.16 +1.37
Green David Bergart 1,229 2.48 +1.04
Libertarian Gene Balfour 571 1.16 +0.11
Freedom Erin Goodwin 233 0.47 -0.08
Total valid votes 50,291 100.0  
Progressive Conservative hold Swing -3.06
Source: Elections Ontario[20]
Ontario provincial by-election, February 13, 2014
Resignation of Peter Shurman
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Gila Martow 13,438 47.67 +0.96
Liberal Sandra Yeung Racco 11,677 41.43 +0.51
New Democratic Cindy Hackelberg 1,905 6.75 -2.21
Green Teresa Pun 404 1.43 -0.25
Libertarian Gene Balfour 296 1.05 -0.34
Freedom Erin Goodwin 153 0.54 +0.21
People's Political Party Kevin Clarke 144 0.51
Pauper Party of Ontario John Turmel 47 0.17
Total valid votes 28,184
Turnout 27.4%
  Progressive Conservative hold Swing +0.34%

References

  1. ^ @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.
  2. ^ a b "NDP win Niagara Falls, Tories hold Thornhill in Ontario byelections". Global News. February 13, 2014.
  3. ^ Joseph, Simone (January 14, 2014). "Parties get set as Thornhill byelection called". yorkregion.com. Metroland Media..
  4. ^ Hashomer, Hatzair. "Hashomer Hatzair records, 1938-1942". The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life. The Regents of the University of California. Retrieved July 28, 2019.
  5. ^ "House proceedings (hansard)". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. April 23, 2015.
  6. ^ "Hashomer Hatzair marks 85 years in Canada". August 14, 2008.
  7. ^ Eby, Chris (September 9, 2007). "Ont. Tories trash Liberal promise-keeping record". CTV Toronto News. CTV. Retrieved February 14, 2014.
  8. ^ "It's official: PC Martow wins Thornhill in wake of vote tally error". York Region. June 14, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  9. ^ "Martow proclaimed winner in recount". York Region. Metroland Media. June 23, 2014.
  10. ^ "Legislative Assembly of Ontario | Members (MPPs) | Current MPPs | Gila Martow, MPP (Thornhill)". www.ontla.on.ca. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
  11. ^ "Premier Ford Announces Parliamentary Assistant Assignments as Part of Ontario's Government for the People". news.ontario.ca.
  12. ^ "Ontario MPP made a trip to the cottage over holidays, ignoring government advisory | Globalnews.ca".
  13. ^ "Peterborough area councillors to Thornhill MPP Martow: Stay home!". January 5, 2021.
  14. ^ Gila Martow [@GilaMartow] (November 22, 2020). "Thornhillers have asked me to be their candidate in the next Federal election" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  15. ^ Thornhill Conservative EDA [@ThornhillConEDA] (March 17, 2021). "Congratulations to our new candidate of record to be..." (Tweet). Retrieved April 7, 2021 – via Twitter.
  16. ^ "'I wasn't planning on making any of that public.' Tory MPP caught in ugly nomination battle". December 15, 2020.
  17. ^ @GilaMartow (May 4, 2022). "Team Gila just filed all our paperwork for Ward 5 Councillor @City_of_Vaughan! https://vaughan.ca/elections/Pages/Nominated-Candidates.aspx" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. ^ "City of Vaughan Unofficial Results" (PDF).
  19. ^ "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 11. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
  20. ^ "General Election Results by District, 089 Thornhill". Elections Ontario. 2014. Archived from the original on June 17, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
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