Ontario New Democratic Party candidates, 1999 Ontario provincial election

The New Democratic Party of Ontario ran a full slate of 103 candidates in the 1999 provincial election. Nine of these candidates were elected, making the party the third-largest in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Some of these candidates have separate biography pages; information on others may be found here.

This page also includes information about New Democratic Party of Ontario candidates in by-elections held between 1999 and 2003.

Candidates

Brampton West—Mississauga: John Devries

Devries moved to Brampton, Ontario from Amsterdam, Netherlands in the early 1970s. He has been a food bank volunteer in the area, and started an employment help organization called the Labour Action Centre in 1994, after losing his job with Caterpillar Inc. Devries was 52 years old during the 1999 election, and also operated a non-profit apartment building in Toronto (Toronto Star, 26 May 1999).

He first campaigned for the NDP in the 1990 provincial election, replacing original party nominee Martha MacDonald halfway through the campaign (Toronto Star, 13 September 1990). Despite his late entry, Devries came within 98 votes of defeating Liberal incumbent Carman McClelland in Brampton North. Devries received 11,588 votes (34.63%), finishing less than half a percentage point behind McClelland. MacDonald, who received 434 votes as an independent candidate, may have prevented Devries from winning.

He contested the same constituency in the 1995 provincial election, and received 5,288 votes (12.98%) amid a general loss of support for the NDP across most of the province. The winner was Joe Spina of the Progressive Conservative Party.

Devries received 2,824 votes (6.33%) in the 1999 election, finishing third against Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Tony Clement. Devries emphasized health care in this campaign, noting that Brampton only had one hospital for 300,000 people.

In 2000, Devries had a letter published in the Toronto Star entitled, "True Christians can't support right-wing policies". He criticized Canadian Alliance leadership candidate Stockwell Day for pursuing policies that would hurt the most vulnerable in society, and opposed the calls of some church leaders to support Day as a "family values" candidate (Toronto Star, 13 June 2000).

St. Catharines: Gordon Coggins

Coggins is a retired professor from Brock University in St. Catharines, and a former head of the English department at Aldershot High School in Burlington. In 1977, he published A Guide to Writing Essays and Research Papers. He wrote an open letter to the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation in 1997, encouraging solidarity in the face of government threats.[1] Coggins has written critical pieces on the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, the International Monetary Fund and the military policies of the United States government. In 2004, he co-drafted a presentation for the city of Windsor on Municipal Property Tax Assessment, entitled "Our Tax System in Crisis".[2]

He received 2,902 votes (6.21%) in 1999, finishing in third place against Liberal Party candidate Jim Bradley.

York West

Stephnie Payne is a longtime school board trustee and community activist in Toronto, Ontario. She ran as a candidate for the Ontario New Democratic Party in the 1999 provincial election in York West.

In 1999, Payne was head of the San Romano Way Revitalization, a community based organization in the Jane and Finch community.

by-elections

Parry Sound—Muskoka: Joanne Bury

Joanne Bury, formerly known as Joanne Bury-Malchuk,^[1] is a freelance writer and activist for the disabled.^[2] She has been a New Democratic Party candidate in two federal elections and one provincial by-election; in 1988, she appeared on the ballot as "Joanne Malchuk."

She is vocally pro-choice and has criticized the Canadian anti-abortion movement for picketing abortion facilities rather than supporting affordable housing for mothers and children.^[3]

Electoral record

Election	Division	Party	Votes	%	Place	Winner
1988 federal	Parry Sound—Muskoka	New Democratic Party	10,225	25.66	3/3	Stan Darling, Progressive Conservative
2000 federal	Parry Sound—Muskoka	New Democratic Party	1,665	4.42	4/5	Andy Mitchell, Liberal
provincial by-election, 22 March 2001	Parry Sound—Muskoka	New Democratic Party	888	3.39	4/6	Norm Miller, Progressive Conservative

References

1. ^ Roy MacGregor, "Soon-to-be oldest MP wouldn't dream of retiring," Ottawa Citizen, 5 October 1988, A3
2. ^ "Premier calls byelection," Sault Star, 16 February 2001, B2; Caroline Mallan, "Avoiding potholes key to by-election," Toronto Star, 19 March 2001, A07.
3. ^ Joanne Bury, "Party shows true colours" [letter], Toronto Star, 8 October 2000, A23; Joanne Bury, "Protester angers patient at hospital," North Bay Nugget, 22 February 2005, A6.