Ross McClellan

Ross McClellan (born October 8, 1942 in Toronto, Ontario) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1975 to 1987 as a member of the New Democratic Party (NDP).

McClellan was educated at St. Michael's College and the school of Social Work at the University of Toronto. A social worker, he served as vice-president of the Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto in 1975-76.

He was first elected to the Ontario legislature in the 1975 provincial election, defeating Liberal Mike Caccia by 496 votes in the Toronto constituency of Bellwoods. Along with Tony Lupusella and Odoardo di Santo, McClellan helped to increase the NDP's popularity in the Italian areas of the city. McClellan's mother is Italian.

He was easily re-elected in the 1977 election, and fended off more serious challenges from Liberal Walter Bardyn in 1981 and 1985. He supported Richard Johnston for the party leadership in 1982.

The Progressive Conservative Party, which had governed Ontario since 1943, was reduced to a precarious minority government in the 1985 election. McClellan, influenced in part by his mother's European socialist background, wanted the NDP to form a coalition government with the Liberals. This proposal was rejected. McClellan was instead appointed chief negotiator for talks with both the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives, in which the NDP agreed to provide support to another party without actually joining government. These talks led to a two-year accord with the Liberal Party, which promised to introduce progressive reforms in return for NDP support in the legislature. Liberal leader David Peterson was duly sworn in as Premier of Ontario on June 26, 1985.

McClellan's career in the legislature was cut short by electoral redistribution prior to the 1987 election. The Bellwoods constituency was eliminated, and McClellan was forced to contest the NDP nomination in Dovercourt against Tony Lupusella. Although McClellan won the nomination, Lupusella subsequently left the NDP to contest the constituency as a Liberal, and defeated McClellan by 907 votes. McClellan did not seek a return to the legislature after this loss.

The NDP won a majority government under Bob Rae's leadership in 1990. McClellan served as a senior policy adviser to the Premier from 1990 to 1995. He influenced many key policy decisions, including the government's decision not to introduce public auto insurance in 1991.

McClellan has been a member of the Ontario NDP executive at various times since the Rae years and is largely credited with authoring the Ontario NDP election platforms in the 1999 and 2003 elections. He became a senior staffer for the Ontario Federation of Labour in the 1990s, and remained there until his retirement. In 2002, he played a leading role in resolving a strike involving Toronto municipal workers.

In 2005, McClellan spoke out against limiting union donations to political parties.