Ed Ziemba

Ed Ziemba was an New Democratic Party MPP in the Ontario legislature representing the provincial electoral district of High Park—Swansea.

He was first elected in the 1975 provincial election succeeding retired NDP MPP Morton Shulman and was re-elected in 1977 by fewer than 800 votes before being defeated in the 1981 provincial election by Progressive Conservative Yuri Shymko who made in issue of Ziemba's six month expulsion from the legislature after he accused the Conservative government of persuading two opposition MPPs of giving up their seats immediately prior to the 1977 election campaign by offering them patronage positions allowing the Conservatives to win the seats. ["High Park-Swansea profile Political maverick will not be cowed," "Globe and Mail", March 5, 1981] "The Tories bought those seats. Those seats have been bought and paid for on the installment plan - and it adds up to $100,000 a year," said Ziemba in 1980 in regards to appointments given to former Liberal MPPs Phil Givens and Vernon Singer. ["Ziemba's charges of rife patronage anger Tory MPPs," "Globe and Mail", December 9, 1980]

An outspoken and controversial politician, Ziemba spent six days in Toronto's Don Jail in 1977 for contempt of court when he refused to reveal his informant for allegations that the principals of Abko Laboratories were defrauding the Ontario Health Insurance Plan. The owners of the lab were charged with fraud following a police investigation and Ziemba was called as a witness and refused to reveal his informant on the stand saying he would not betray his informant's trust. [White, Graham, [http://www.parl.gc.ca/Infoparl/english/issue.htm?param=93&art=358 "The Imprisonment Of A Member For Refusing To Disclose Confidential Communications"] , "Canadian Parliamentary Review", vol 3, no 2, 1980] In 1976, Ziemba also sparked an uproar in the legislature when he leaked a list of 812 doctors earning more than $100,000 a year in OHIP billings. [Walkom, Thomas, "Doctors' OHIP billings should be public," December 10, 1996]

In 1982, he attempted a political comeback by running for Toronto City Council in Ward 1 but was unsuccessful. [Laver, Ross, "ELECTION '82 Will Toronto voters stay at home?," "Globe and Mail", November 6, 1982]

Following his political career, Ziemba worked as a representative of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union in Toronto. ["Strike at coat firm ends," "Globe and Mail", November 8, 1984]

In the 1990 provincial election, his sister-in-law, Elaine Ziemba, regained the High Park—Swansea seat for the NDP.

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