Bud Germa

Melville Carlyle (Bud) Germa (August 5, 1920 — June 17, 1993) was a Canadian politician, who represented the electoral district of Sudbury from 1967 to 1968 in the House of Commons of Canada, and from 1971 to 1981 in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. He was a member of the New Democratic Party.

Bud Germa
MP for Sudbury
In office
1967–1968
Preceded byRodger Mitchell
Succeeded byJames Jerome
MPP for Sudbury
In office
1971–1981
Preceded byElmer Sopha
Succeeded byJim Gordon
Personal details
Born
Melville Carlyle Germa

August 5, 1920
Creighton, Ontario, Canada
DiedJune 17, 1993(1993-06-17) (aged 72)
Political partyNew Democrat
ResidenceSudbury, Ontario, Canada
Occupationlabour organizer

Before entering politics, Germa was a labourer and union organizer in Sudbury, and served on Sudbury City Council.[1] In 1964, while serving on city council, he advocated for Northern Ontario to separate from Ontario to become its own province.[2]

Federal politics

Germa first ran as an NDP candidate in the 1965 election,[3] losing to Liberal incumbent Rodger Mitchell. Mitchell died in 1967, however, and in the resulting byelection, Germa won the seat.[4] The results were subject to a judicial recount, due to Germa's narrow margin of victory over Liberal candidate James Jerome, but the recount upheld Germa's victory.[5] Unusually, but legally at the time, he did not resign his city council seat while serving as an MP, but held both positions concurrently.[6]

However, in the national election the following year, Jerome defeated Germa to reclaim the seat for the Liberals.

Provincial politics

Germa subsequently ran in the 1971 provincial election,[7] winning the seat and representing Sudbury in the provincial legislative assembly as a member of the Ontario New Democratic Party.

In 1972, he criticized the appointment of Jim Jessiman and Gaston Demers to the board of Ontario Northland.[8]

In 1975, Ontario Progressive Conservative Party MPP Frank Drea was forced to apologize in the legislature after claiming in a speech on gun control that some members of the opposition caucuses were members of "Communist organizations"; although Drea did not publicly name on the record who he was talking about, he was overheard by journalists in the press gallery telling a colleague that he was referring to Germa.[9]

He was reelected in the 1975 election, in a closely watched three-way race against Liberal Elmer Sopha, his predecessor as MPP, and Conservative Joe Fabbro, at the time the city's mayor.[10] In this term, he served as chair of the legislature's standing committee on public accounts.[11] In 1976, he strongly opposed the government's plan to sell off the former Burwash Industrial Farm site near Sudbury,[12] although after a journalist from CKNC-TV interviewed him about the issue on the Burwash site,[13] Progressive Conservative MPP Margaret Scrivener accused him of illegal trespassing.[14]

In 1977, after a list of doctors' billing fees to the Ontario Health Insurance Plan was released to the media, the Tories attempted to have Germa deposed as chair of the public accounts committee, although the move failed.[15]

He was reelected to a third term in the 1977 election.[16]

He was defeated in the 1981 election by Jim Gordon of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party.[17]

Electoral record
1965 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
LiberalRodger Mitchell13,24744.65-4.17
New DemocraticBud Germa10,74936.23+19.31
Progressive ConservativeBruce Kerr5,67519.13-7.45
Total valid votes 29,671100.00
Canadian federal by-election, 29 May 1967
Party Candidate Votes%±%
On Rodger Mitchell's death, 4 January 1967
New DemocraticBud Germa12,98245.13+8.90
LiberalJames Jerome12,82344.58-0.07
Progressive ConservativeColin Caswell2,4918.66-10.47
IndependentG.W. Bill Passi2440.85
Social CreditDonald A. Land2250.78
Total valid votes 28,765100.00
1968 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
LiberalJames Jerome19,67252.28+7.70
New DemocraticBud Germa12,26032.58-12.55
Progressive ConservativeRobert Desmarais5,69615.14+6.48
Total valid votes 37,628 100.00

References
  1. "Sudbury by-election seen index to NDP future in Liberal North". The Globe and Mail, May 27, 1967.
  2. "North Ontario Urged to Form Own Province". The Globe and Mail, June 13, 1964.
  3. "145 Already Named for Election". The Globe and Mail, September 9, 1965.
  4. "NDP by-election victory ends the Liberals' 43-year hold on Sudbury". The Globe and Mail, May 30, 1967.
  5. "NDP candidate Sudbury MP by 159 votes". The Globe and Mail, June 10, 1967.
  6. "Conflict of opinion abouf conflict of interest as some MPPs quit elected municipal posts". The Globe and Mail, December 11, 1971.
  7. "Sopha announces he won't contest Sudbury seat in coming election". The Globe and Mail, August 11, 1971.
  8. "Lack experience, NDP member says: Northland appointments called favoritism". The Globe and Mail, August 26, 1972.
  9. "Tory member makes apology for 'Red' remark". The Globe and Mail, March 26, 1975.
  10. "Sudbury trims its beard". The Globe and Mail, September 2, 1975.
  11. "Apology letters 'hypocritical,' Germa says". The Globe and Mail, February 7, 1977.
  12. "Proposal to sell Burwash site triggers a row". The Globe and Mail, December 22, 1976.
  13. "A visit to Burwash". The Globe and Mail, January 3, 1977.
  14. "Break-in at Burwash". The Globe and Mail, December 29, 1976.
  15. "Tories fail to oust Germa as Public Accounts Committee chairman". The Globe and Mail, January 19, 1977.
  16. "Conservatives make comeback in North at NDP's expense, early returns show". The Globe and Mail, June 10, 1977.
  17. "Northern ridings boost Conservative majority". The Globe and Mail, March 20, 1981.
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