Gila Martow
Gila Martow MPP | |
---|---|
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Francophone Affairs | |
In office November 29, 2018 – November 23, 2020 | |
Minister | Caroline Mulroney |
Preceded by | Amanda Simard |
Succeeded by | Natalia Kusendova |
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Thornhill | |
Assumed office February 13, 2014 | |
Preceded by | Peter Shurman |
Personal details | |
Born | Gila Deborah Gladstone June 5, 1961 Montreal, Quebec |
Political party | Progressive Conservative |
Residence | Thornhill, Ontario |
Alma mater | University of Waterloo School of Optometry and Vision Science |
Occupation | Optometrist |
Gila Deborah Martow (née Gladstone; born June 5, 1961) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She represents the electoral district of Thornhill in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as a member of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party.[1] She held the position of Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Labour until November 2018, when she was appointed Parliamentary Assistant to Francophone Affairs Minister Caroline Mulroney following the departure of Amanda Simard from the PC Caucus.
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.[2]
Martow's maternal grandparents lived on a kibbutz organized by the Hashomer Hatzair Marxist-Zionist[3] youth movement in the early 1930s in Mandatory Palestine (later to become Israel).[4] 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.[5]
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."[6] Martow's first run for elected office was in 2010, when she ran for city council in Vaughan Ward 5, placing second.
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.[1] 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.[7] A recount was done and Martow was declared the winner on June 23, 2014 by a margin of 106 votes.[8]
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.[9]
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.[10] 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.[11][12] In July that year, she attracted further controversy after suggesting in a virtual town hall that teachers could be replaced with pre-recorded videos to save money on online learning.[13]
Martow will not seek re-election in the 2022 Ontario general election. As required by the caucus, she resigned her Parliamentary Assistant role as she launched her campaign for the federal nomination.[14]
Failed federal nomination bid[]
In early 2021, Martow ran unsuccessfully for the federal Conservative nomination in Thornhill,[15] where she was defeated by Melissa Lantsman.[16][17] 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 will not be permitted to run in the 2022 Ontario general election as a Progressive Conservative candidate.
Election results[]
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 | |||||
Ontario Moderate Party | Aleksei Polyakov | 177 | 0.37 | |||||
Total valid votes | 47,261 | 100.0 | ||||||
Progressive Conservative hold | Swing | +13.24 | ||||||
Source: Elections Ontario[18] |
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[19] |
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% |
Municipal[]
2010 Vaughan election, Ward 5[20] | |
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 |
References[]
- ^ a b "NDP win Niagara Falls, Tories hold Thornhill in Ontario byelections". Global News. 13 February 2014.
- ^ Joseph, Simone (14 January 2014). "Parties get set as Thornhill byelection called". yorkregion.com. Metroland Media..
- ^ Hashomer, Hatzair. "Hashomer Hatzair records, 1938-1942". The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life. The Regents of the University of California. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
- ^ "House proceedings (hansard)". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. 23 April 2015.
- ^ "Hashomer Hatzair marks 85 years in Canada". 14 August 2008.
- ^ Eby, Chris (9 September 2007). "Ont. Tories trash Liberal promise-keeping record". CTV Toronto News. CTV. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
- ^ "It's official: PC Martow wins Thornhill in wake of vote tally error". York Region. 14 June 2014. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
- ^ "Martow proclaimed winner in recount". York Region. Metroland Media. 23 June 2014.
- ^ "Legislative Assembly of Ontario | Members (MPPs) | Current MPPs | Gila Martow, MPP (Thornhill)". www.ontla.on.ca. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
- ^ "Premier Ford Announces Parliamentary Assistant Assignments as Part of Ontario's Government for the People". news.ontario.ca.
- ^ "Ontario MPP made trip to cottage over holidays, ignoring government advisory | Globalnews.ca".
- ^ "Peterborough area councillors to Thornhill MPP Martow: Stay home!". 5 January 2021.
- ^ "Ontario PC MPP Floats Idea of Replacing Teachers with Pre-Recorded Videos to Cut Education Costs".
- ^ Nanji, Sabrina (9 December 2020). "'Not an option': Gila Martow won't run for PCs in 2022, whether or not she makes the jump to federal politics". politicstoday.news.
- ^ Gila Martow [@GilaMartow] (22 November 2020). "Thornhillers have asked me to be their candidate in the next Federal election" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Thornhill Conservative EDA [@ThornhillConEDA] (17 March 2021). "Congratulations to our new candidate of record to be..." (Tweet). Retrieved 7 April 2021 – via Twitter.
- ^ "'I wasn't planning on making any of that public.' Tory MPP caught in ugly nomination battle". 15 December 2020.
- ^ "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 11. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
- ^ "General Election Results by District, 089 Thornhill". Elections Ontario. 2014. Archived from the original on 17 June 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
- ^ "City of Vaughan Unofficial Results" (PDF).
External links[]
- 1961 births
- Anglophone Quebec people
- Jewish Canadian politicians
- Living people
- Canadian optometrists
- Politicians from Montreal
- Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs
- Women MPPs in Ontario
- 21st-century Canadian politicians
- 21st-century Canadian women politicians
- Jewish women politicians