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Ted McMeekin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ted McMeekin (Born about 1948)[1] is a politician residing in Ontario, Canada. He is currently a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Aldershot for the Liberal Party of Ontario.
McMeekin holds a Master's Degree in social work from Wilfrid Laurier University. He has served as executive director of the Burlington Social Planning Council, and was for a time the chair of part-time studies at Mohawk College (where he also taught courses). He has also worked on social justice issues for the United Church of Canada, and was the owner and operator a small bookstore for eight years.
Before entering provincial politics, McMeekin was, for a term of six years, the mayor of Flamborough, Ontario, a rural community which lies on the outskirts of the City of Hamilton. [2] McMeekin was also for a number of years Flamborough's representative on the Hamilton-Wentworth regional council, which the provincial government of Mike Harris eliminated in 2000 by amalgamating the city and outlying regions into a single political entity (akin to the "mega-city" of Toronto). McMeekin was one of the most vocal opponents of this change, noting that it would result in a loss of autonomy for Flamborough.
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McMeekin's plans to jump from municipal to provincial politics had been rumoured for years, and it came as no surprise when he won the Liberal nomination for a by-election to be held in ADFA on September 7, 2000 (called following the resignation of Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Toni Skarica, another vocal opponent of the amalgamation scheme). Although the seat had gone overwhelmingly for the Progressive Conservatives the previous year, McMeekin managed to defeat PC candidate Priscilla de Villiers by over 9000 votes. The Conservatives had spent $211,989 on his competitor, nearly $80,000 in excess of McMeekin's $132,143.[3] Local opposition to amalgamation was generally cited as the reason for this shift.
In the provincial election of 2003, McMeekin defeated Tory candidate Mark Mullins by a somewhat reduced margin. He served as parliamentary assistant to John Gerretsen in his capacity as the Minister responsible for Seniors from October 23, 2003 to September 27, 2004. On September 27, 2004, he was appointed assistant to Jim Watson, the Ministry of Consumer and Business Services.
- ^ News, A personal look at the canadidates, (Hamilton: The Hamilton Spectator), Aug 5, 2000, sec A.03.
- ^ Richard Brennan, Hostile voters target Tory in Hamilton by-election, (Toronto: The Toronto Star), September 04, 2000
- ^ News, Big budget didn't bring election win, (Hamilton: The Hamilton Spectator), April 17, 2001