Brian Masse
Brian Masse | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Shadow Minister for Small Business and Tourism | |
| In office January 23, 2015 – November 19, 2015 | |
| Leader | Tom Mulcair |
| Preceded by | Glenn Thibeault |
| Succeeded by | Blake Richards Alice Wong |
| Member of Parliament for Windsor West | |
| Assumed office May 13, 2002 | |
| Preceded by | Herb Gray |
| Windsor City Councillor | |
| In office December 1, 1997 – May 13, 2002 Serving with Peter Carlesimo | |
| Preceded by | Sheila Wisdom |
| Succeeded by | Ronald Jones |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 9, 1968 Windsor, Ontario, Canada |
| Political party | New Democratic Party |
| Spouse | Terry Chow |
| Children | 2 |
| Residence(s) | Windsor, Ontario, Canada |
| Alma mater | University of Windsor Wilfrid Laurier University |
| Profession | Member of Parliament |
Brian S. Masse MP (born July 9, 1968) is a Canadian politician. He has served in the House of Commons of Canada since 2002, representing the riding of Windsor West as a member of the New Democratic Party.
Masse is married to Terry Chow, with whom he has a daughter and a son.
Early life and career
Masse was born in Windsor, Ontario. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Wilfrid Laurier University in 1991, and has completed course work for a Master of Arts degree at the University of Windsor.[1] During the 1990s, he was a job developer for the Association for Persons with Physical Disabilities and a program coordinator for the Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex County.[2]
Masse gained local prominence in 1996 for his opposition to a dance bar that was planned for a residential neighbourhood.[3] He was elected for Ward 2 of the Windsor city council in 1997, and was re-elected in 2000. In 1998, he played a prominent role in preventing a rock-crushing operation from opening in the Wellington Avenue area.[4]
In May 2001, the Windsor city council unanimously approved Masse's motion to prevent school boards from selling vacant property lots at the highest market value. His purpose was to dissuade boards from closing schools, though some criticized the motion as working against taxpayer interests.[5] Masse later called for a referendum on a proposed new arena project, but this was not accepted by council.[6]
Brian Masse has a son and daughter named Wade Masse and Alexandria Masse. Wade Masse was born December 8, 2003. Alexandria Masse was born September 26, 2000. He also has a wife Terry Chow.
Member of Parliament
Masse joined the federal New Democratic Party in 1997, and was first elected to the Canadian parliament in a by-election held on May 13, 2002.[7] The election was called after the resignation of Herb Gray, a long-time Liberal cabinet minister who had been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1962. Masse won the NDP nomination without opposition, and defeated Liberal candidate Richard Pollock by 2,477 votes to win the seat.[8] He was re-elected by a greater margin in the 2004 general election. Masse's success in 2002 was partly due to support from Joe Comartin, a fellow Windsor New Democrat who was elected to the House of Commons in the 2000 federal election.[9] In 2002-03, Masse supported Comartin's bid for the NDP leadership.[10]
Masse served as the NDP critic for Auto Policy, Canada Border Services, and Customs in the 38th Canadian parliament. He also became a member of the newly formed all-party "Border Caucus", examining aspects of Canada-U.S. trade relations.[11] He introduced a motion in 2004 to restrict large pharmaceutical companies from renewing their patent protection, and has worked in support of Stephen Lewis's efforts to bring affordable AIDS drugs to Africa.[12]
During his first campaign for the House of Commons, the Windsor Star newspaper ran an editorial opposing him as "a bench-warmer, a yes-man, a political careerist".[13] Two years later, however, a leading Star columnist wrote that Masse had "vastly exceeded expectations and quickly developed into an able, hard-working representative who has stayed on top of riding issues".[14]
Masse was re-elected in the 2006 federal election with an increased majority over Liberal Werner Keller. He currently serves as NDP Deputy Industry Critic. After the election, Masse and Comartin spoke out against the provincial NDP's decision to remove Canadian Auto Workers leader Buzz Hargrove from the party.[15]
Masse has criticized Industry Minister Maxime Bernier's plans to deregulate Canada's telecommunications market and ease restrictions on foreign ownership, arguing that the reforms could result in a small number of companies controlling the Canadian industry.[16]
Electoral record
| 2015 Canadian federal election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| New Democratic | Brian Masse | 24,085 | 51.35 | -2.98 | $80,089.86 | |||
| Liberal | Dave Sundin | 11,842 | 25.25 | +14.36 | $29,218.35 | |||
| Conservative | Henry Lau | 9,734 | 20.75 | -10.89 | $16,790.47 | |||
| Green | Cora LaRussa | 1,083 | 2.31 | -0.45 | – | |||
| Marxist–Leninist | Margaret Villamizar | 161 | 0.34 | -0.04 | – | |||
| Total valid votes/Expense limit | 46,905 | 100.0 | $222,985.73 | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 284 | – | – | |||||
| Turnout | 47,189 | – | – | |||||
| Eligible voters | 86,166 | |||||||
| Source: Elections Canada[17][18] | ||||||||
| New Democratic Party hold | ||||||||
| 2011 Canadian federal election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| New Democratic | Brian Masse | 21,592 | 54.33 | +1.79 | – | |||
| Conservative | Lisa Lumley | 12,577 | 31.64 | +9.06 | – | |||
| Liberal | Melanie Deveau | 4,327 | 10.89 | -7.70 | – | |||
| Green | Alishia Fox | 1,096 | 2.76 | -2.92 | – | |||
| Marxist–Leninist | Margaret Villamizar | 153 | 0.38 | +0.09 | – | |||
| Total valid votes | 39,745 | 100.00 | – | |||||
| Total rejected ballots | 257 | 0.64 | -0.06 | |||||
| Turnout | 40,002 | 49.13 | +1.80 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 81,428 | – | – | |||||
| New Democratic Party hold | ||||||||
Template:Canadian federal election, 2008/Electoral District/Windsor West
Template:Canadian federal election, 2006/Electoral District/Windsor West
Template:Canadian federal election, 2004/Electoral District/Windsor West
Template:Canadian federal by-election, May 13, 2002/Electoral District/Windsor West
| 2000 Windsor municipal election: Council, Ward Two (two members elected) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % | ||||||
| (x)Brian Masse | 4,908 | 32.36 | ||||||
| (x)Peter Carlesimo | 3,430 | 22.61 | ||||||
| Jim Bennett | 2,861 | 18.86 | ||||||
| Graham Wilson | 1,274 | 8.40 | ||||||
| Lawrence Holland | 1,144 | 7.54 | ||||||
| Frank DiPierdomenico | 714 | 4.71 | ||||||
| Kevin Flood | 373 | 2.46 | ||||||
| Bob Harper | 336 | 2.22 | ||||||
| Bowen Alkemade | 128 | 0.84 | ||||||
| Total votes | 15,168 | 100.00 | ||||||
Results provided by the City of Windsor.
| 1997 Windsor municipal election: Council, Ward Two (two members elected) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % | ||||||
| Brian Masse | 3,425 | 26.20 | ||||||
| (x) Peter Carlesimo | 2,865 | 21.91 | ||||||
| Jim Bennett | 2,491 | 19.05 | ||||||
| Rolly Marentette | 1,613 | 12.34 | ||||||
| George Dadamo | 1,587 | 12.14 | ||||||
| Gail Zdyb | 597 | 4.57 | ||||||
| Robert Potomski | 496 | 3.79 | ||||||
| Total votes | 13,074 | 100.00 | ||||||
Results are provided by the City of Windsor.
Electors could vote for two candidates in the municipal elections. The percentages are determined in relation to the total number of votes.
All federal election information is taken from Elections Canada. Italicized expenditures refer to submitted totals, and are presented when the final reviewed totals are not available.
References
- ^ CBC Canada Votes 2006, Windsor West profile, Brian Masse.
- ^ Brian Cross, "The Prosperity Puzzle", Windsor Star, January 10, 1995, A1.
- ^ Brian Masse, "Neighbours have a right to maintain their area", Windsor Star, June 19, 1996, A7.
- ^ Roseann Danese, Local News, Windsor Star, October 20, 1998, A3.
- ^ "City taxpayers", Windsor Star, May 9, 2001, A6.
- ^ Roseann Danese, "Arena plebiscite defeated", Windsor Star, April 9, 2002, A3.
- ^ Chris Thompson, "Pollock on offensive at candidates meeting", Windsor Star, April 17, 2002, A3.
- ^ Don Lajoie, "Masse carries NDP banner", Windsor Star, April 5, 2002, A3.
- ^ Doug Williamson, "CAW not ready to back Comartin yet", Windsor Star, July 26, 2002, A1.
- ^ Scott Piatkowski, "Support for NDP is growing", Kitchener-Waterloo Record, January 13, 2003, A7.
- ^ "All-party Border Caucus launched in Ottawa", Brian Masse press release, December 15, 2004.
- ^ "One of Windsor's New Democrat M-P's wants to save Canada's health-care system hundreds of (m) millions of dollars", Broadcast News, November 15, 2004, 02:31 report; "New Democrats committed to the Lewis legacy", Party press release, November 6, 2003.
- ^ "Don't promote Brian Masse", Windsor Star, May 3, 2002, A8.
- ^ Gord Henderson, column, Windsor Star, June 24, 2004, A3.
- ^ Carly Weeks, "MPs split over decision to throw Hargrove out of NDP", Vancouver Sun, February 13, 2006, A3. Hargrove had called for "strategic voting" against the Conservatives, and endorsed Liberal candidates in areas where the NDP had little chance of winning. Masse strongly disagreed with Hargrove's position, but argued that it was unnecessarily harsh to expel him from the party.
- ^ Catherine McLean, "Less regulation good for telecom: panel", Globe and Mail, March 24, 2006, B3; Bill Curry, "NDP alarmed at talk of easing telecom cap", Globe and Mail, March 28, 2006, B6.
- ^ Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Windsor West, 30 September 2015
- ^ Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates