Christopher Ballard[1] is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2014 to 2018 who represented the riding of Newmarket—Aurora. He was a member of cabinet in the government of Kathleen Wynne.
Chris Ballard | |
|---|---|
 Ballard in 2014 | |
| Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament for Newmarket—Aurora | |
| In office June 12, 2014 – June 7, 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Frank Klees |
| Succeeded by | Christine Elliott |
| Personal details | |
| Born | King City, Ontario |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse | Audrey |
| Children | 3 |
| Residence | Aurora, Ontario |
| Occupation | Businessman; journalist |
Background
editAttended King City Secondary School where upon graduation had aspirations of becoming a Marine Biologist.[2]
Ballard was a journalist with the Newmarket Era, the Aurora Banner, the Orillia Packet and Times, Canadian Press and the Toronto Star. He has run his own business consultancy firm CSB Communications with clients in the business, education, association sectors in Ontario. He was also the executive director for a consumers advocacy group.[3] He lives in Aurora with his wife Audrey where they raised three children.
Ballard was presented with an honorary lifetime member award by Speaker of the Ontario Legislature, Michael A. Brown, on behalf of the Public Affairs Association of Canada. Ballard is a former president of the association and was recognized for his years of dedication to the association.
Politics
editBallard was elected as a town councillor in Aurora in 2010[4] and vacated his council seat before finishing a full term.[5]
He ran in the 2014 provincial election as the Liberal candidate in the riding of Newmarket-Aurora, a long-time PC held riding north of Toronto. In a surprising upset, he defeated Progressive Conservative candidate Jane Twinney by 3,412 votes.[6][7] Ballard's win was part of a strong showing by the Ontario Liberals in the York Region, where the party had a historically strong showing in many traditionally PC and swing ridings.
He previously served as parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Government and Consumer Services. In June 2016, he was appointed to cabinet as Minister of Housing and Minister Responsible for the Poverty-Reduction Strategy.
After the resignation of Glen Murray as Minister of Environment and Climate Change on July 31, 2017, Ballard was appointed his successor by Premier Kathleen Wynne.[8]
While MPP Ballard moved bill 42 to directly elect the chair of the Region of York. This was never realized as it was reversed in July 2018.[9]
He ran for re-election in the 2018 provincial election and was defeated soundly, coming in 3rd in the riding of Newmarket-Aurora with less than 23% of the vote. Ballard's loss was part of a weak showing by the Ontario Liberals who retained only 7 seats and lost official party status.
He ran in the 2018 municipal election for Mayor of the Town of Aurora and was soundly defeated, coming in 3rd with less than 20% of the vote.
Ballard exited politics in 2019 to be the CEO of Passive House Canada.[10]
Cabinet positions
editElection results
edit| 2018 Ontario general election: Newmarket—Aurora | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Christine Elliott | 24,813 | 47.71 | +10.98 | ||||
| New Democratic | Melissa Williams | 12,405 | 23.85 | +11.91 | ||||
| Liberal | Chris Ballard | 11,840 | 22.76 | -21.36 | ||||
| Green | Michelle Bourdeau | 1,859 | 3.57 | -0.47 | ||||
| Independent | Dorian Baxter | 447 | 0.86 | |||||
| Trillium | Bob Yaciuk | 212 | 0.41 | |||||
| Libertarian | Lori Robbins | 192 | 0.37 | |||||
| None of the Above | Denis Van Decker | 185 | 0.36 | |||||
| Moderate | Denis Gorlynskiy | 60 | 0.12 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 52,013 | 99.01 | ||||||
| Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots | 518 | 0.99 | ||||||
| Turnout | 52,531 | 58.97 | ||||||
| Eligible voters | 89,076 | |||||||
| Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal | Swing | +16.17 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Ontario[11] | ||||||||
| 2014 Ontario general election: Newmarket—Aurora | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Liberal | Chris Ballard | 22,942 | 43.8 | +8.2 | ||||
| Progressive Conservative | Jane Twinney | 19,510 | 37.25 | -10.0 | ||||
| New Democratic | Angus Duff | 6,092 | 11.63 | -2.7 | ||||
| Green | Andrew Roblin | 2,167 | 4.14 | +1.4 | ||||
| Canadians' Choice | Dorian Baxter | 925 | 1.77 | |||||
| Libertarian | Jason Jenkins | 579 | 1.11 | |||||
| Trillium | Bob Yaciuk | 164 | 0.31 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 52,379 | 100.00 | ||||||
| Liberal gain from Progressive Conservative | Swing | +9.1 | ||||||
| Source: Elections Ontario[12] | ||||||||
References
edit- ^ @ONPARLeducation (13 July 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. The names for the 42nd Parliament were recently added. For the first time a Member's name was inscribed in Oji-Cree syllabics" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "King City Secondary School Archon".
- ^ "Meet the candidates: Newmarket-Aurora". Newmarket Era - Banner. May 15, 2014. p. 1.
- ^ Pearce, Sean (October 25, 2010). "Dawe humbled by victory". Newmarket Era - Banner. p. 1.
- ^ "TheAuroran". Archived from the original on 2021-03-02.
- ^ "General Election by District: Newmarket-Aurora". Elections Ontario. June 12, 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-06-14.
- ^ "Liberals win Newmarket-Aurora, PCs win York-Simcoe". Toronto Star. June 13, 2014.
- ^ "Chris Ballard Ontario's New Minister of the Environment and Climate Change" (Press release). Government of Ontario. July 31, 2017.
- ^ "Ontario.ca". Archived from the original on 2018-07-27.
- ^ "passivehouse". Archived from the original on 2020-09-22.
- ^ "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 6. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
- ^ Elections Ontario (2014). "Candidates for Newmarket—Aurora". Archived from the original on 23 May 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2014.