Andrea Horwath

Andrea Horwath
Leader of the Ontario NDP
Incumbent
Assumed office March 7, 2009
Preceded by	Howard Hampton
MPP for Hamilton East
In office May 13, 2004 – 2007
Preceded by	Dominic Agostino
Succeeded by	riding dissolved
MPP for Hamilton Centre
Incumbent
Assumed office 2007
Preceded by	first member
Personal details
Born	(1962-10-24) October 24, 1962 Hamilton, Ontario
Political party	New Democratic Party
Residence	Hamilton, Ontario
Occupation	Politician

Andrea Horwath (pronounced Horvath; born October 24, 1962), is a Canadian activist and politician. She is the Leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party in Canada. She is a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Hamilton Centre, and was chosen as the party's leader at its 2009 leadership convention.

She is the first woman to lead the Ontario New Democratic Party, and only the second woman, after Lyn McLeod, to serve as leader of a political party with representation in the provincial legislature.

Early life, education, early career

Horwath was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Labour Studies from McMaster University in that city. She worked part-time as a waitress to pay her way through university. Her father Andrew, an ethnic Hungarian, had immigrated to Canada from Slovakia, and worked on the assembly line at the Ford Motor Company plant in Oakville, Ontario.

She worked closely with the Hamilton labour movement for several years, programming and providing literacy, numeracy and ESL training for workers. She subsequently got involved in the cooperative housing movement in Welland, and later became a community development coordinator for Hamilton's McQuesten Legal & Community Services, providing public legal education to groups working with tenants, injured workers and people with disabilities.

In 1996 Horwath earned a certificate of achievement in anti-racism training, and was an organizer of Hamilton's Days of Action campaign against provincial government cutbacks announced by Mike Harris. That year she received the Woman of the Year Award in Public Affairs from the Hamilton Status of Women Committee, in recognition of her work in the community. She also dedicated her time and efforts toward the field of social housing, and was subsequently awarded the Graham Emslie Award for Community Development in Housing by the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association.

She lives in Hamilton with her son Julian (born November 1992). In a March 2011 interview with the Toronto Star, she spoke publicly for the first time about the breakup of her longtime relationship with Julian's father, Hamilton businessman Ben Leonetti. Horwath had met Ben Leonetti in her university years, when she was working part-time as a waitress and he was a jazz musician. The two lived together for 25 years without getting married, and split up in 2010.

Early political career

In the Canadian federal election of 1997, she was the NDP candidate against incumbent Liberal Stan Keyes in the riding of Hamilton West. Although unsuccessful, her second-place finish was a significant improvement on previous NDP efforts in the riding, and gave her an increased level of prominence in the city.

City councillor

Later in 1997, she was elected to Hamilton City Council for Ward Two, outpolling two incumbents who had represented the area for more than 20 years. She emerged as a prominent voice for the political left in the city, and was re-elected to council in 2000 and 2003. During her three terms as city councillor, she chaired the solid waste management committee and the municipal non-profit housing corporation.

Provincial politics

By-election victory

Horwath was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in a 2004 by-election in the then-extant provincial riding of Hamilton East, defeating Liberal candidate Ralph Agostino to succeed the deceased Liberal member Dominic Agostino, Ralph's brother. Winning 63.6 per cent of the vote, up from the NDP's 29.4 per cent in that riding six months earlier, her landslide victory boosted the NDP's seat count over the threshold for official party status in the legislature, and helped give the federal New Democratic Party a bounce in Hamilton that would continue into the federal election shortly thereafter.

2007 election

In the 2007 election, Horwath ran in the new riding of Hamilton Centre, due to redistricting that divided her former Hamilton East riding between Hamilton Centre and the new riding of Hamilton East—Stoney Creek. Horwath's new Hamilton Centre riding included approximately half of her former riding as well as a portion of the former Hamilton West riding where she had run federally in 1997. It also included her entire former city council ward.

In the leadup to the campaign, Horwath was expected to face Hamilton West Liberal incumbent Judy Marsales. However, Marsales opted not to run for another term, and Horwath easily defeated Liberal candidate Steve Ruddick on election day.

2009 NDP leadership campaign

On November 7, 2008, Horwath officially launched her campaign to win the party's leadership. The leadership election was held March 6–8, 2009. Horwath led on the first two ballots, and won on the third ballot with 60.4% of the vote defeating Peter Tabuns, Gilles Bisson and Michael Prue.

2011 election

The 2011 provincial election saw a rise in support for the NDP under Horwath's leadership. The party won more than 20% of the popular vote for the first time since 1995 and almost doubled its seats to elect 17 members of the legislature. The election also resulted in the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty being reduced to a minority government with the NDP holding the balance of power.

In April 2012, Horwath passed a leadership review at the party's convention with 76% support.

Awards

2012 EVE Award

In April 2012, Equal Voice, a non-profit, multi-partisan organization dedicated to electing more women to all levels of political office in Canada, honoured Horwath with their 2012 EVE Award. Former recipients include Anne McLellan, Kim Campbell, Frances Lankin, Hazel McCallion, Flora MacDonald, and Carolyn Bennett.

Electoral record

Hamilton West - Canadian federal election, 1997
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Stan Keyes	20,951
	New Democrat	Andrea Horwath	7,648
	Progressive Conservative	John Findlay	6,510
	Reform	Ken Griffith	6,285
	Natural Law	Brian Rickard	323
	Marxist–Leninist	Wendell Fields	170

Hamilton East: By-election, 2004
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democrat	Andrea Horwath	15,185	63.6
	Liberal	Ralph Agostino	6,362	26.6
	Progressive Conservative	Tara Crugnale	1,772	7.4
	Green	Raymond Dartsch	448	1.9
	Independent	John C. Turmel	120	0.5

Hamilton Centre - Ontario general election, 2007
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democrat	Andrea Horwath	17,182	44.6
	Liberal	Steve Ruddick	11,042	28.7
	Progressive Conservative	Chris Robertson	5,711	14.8
	Green	Peter Ormond	3,703	9.6
	Family Coalition	Lynne Scime	553	1.4
	Communist	Bob Mann	316	0.8

Hamilton Centre - Ontario general election, 2011
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Andrea Horwath	20,528	61.3	+16.7
	Liberal	Donna Tiqui-Shebib	5,852	17.5	-11.1
	Progressive Conservative	Don Sheppard	4,418	13.2	-1.6
	Green	Peter Ormond	1,243	3.7	-5.9
	Libertarian	Robert Kuhlman	634	1.9
	Independent	Micheal Baldasaro	268	0.8
	Family Coalition	Steve Passmore	229	0.7	-0.9
	Communist Party of Canada	Anthony Gracey	133	0.4	-0.4
	Freedom	Chris Lawson	128	0.4
	Reform	Robert Szajkowski	75	0.2
Total valid votes			33,508	100.0

Source: "Declared Candidates," The Hamilton Spectator July 23, 2011, A6, News,
Teri Pecoskie. "Liberals give lawyer Hamilton Centre nod," The Hamilton Spectator August 22, 2011, News

External links

• Andrea Horwath
• Ontario Legislative Assembly Parliamentarian History