Raymond Cho (politician)

Raymond Sung Joon Cho (Korean: 조성준) (born November 18, 1936) is a politician from Ontario who is currently serving as Minister of Seniors and Accessibility of Ontario since June 29, 2018. In 2016, he won a by-election to become the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPP for Scarborough—Rouge River in the Ontario legislature. Previously, he had been a municipal politician since 1991, most recently as a City Councillor representing Ward 42 Scarborough—Rouge River. Before being elected, he worked as a social worker for the Catholic Children's Aid Society, the Toronto Board of Education, and the Scarborough Board of Education.[2]


Raymond Cho

조성준
Ontario Minister of Seniors and Accessibility
Assumed office
June 29, 2018
PremierDoug Ford
Preceded byDipika Damerla
Member of the Ontario Provincial Parliament
for Scarborough North
Scarborough—Rouge River (2016-2018)
Assumed office
September 1, 2016
Preceded byBas Balkissoon
Toronto City Councillor for (Ward 42) Scarborough—Rouge River
In office
December 1, 2000  September 10, 2016
Preceded byNew ward
Succeeded byNeethan Shan
Chair of the Scarborough Community Council
In office
December 1, 2003  June 27, 2005
Preceded byRon Moeser
Succeeded byMichael Thompson
Toronto City Councillor for Scarborough Malvern (Ward 18)
In office
January 1, 1998  December 1, 2000
Preceded byNew ward
Succeeded byWard abolished
Metro Toronto City Councillor for Scarborough Malvern (Ward 18)
In office
December 1, 1991  January 1, 1998
Preceded byBob Sanders
Succeeded byCity Amalgamated
Personal details
Born (1936-11-18) November 18, 1936
Seoul, Japanese-Occupied Korea[1]
Political partyProgressive Conservative (Provincial)
Independent (Municipal)
Other political
affiliations
New Democratic Party
(until ca. 1991)

Liberal
(mid-1990s-2004)
Spouse(s)Soon Ok[2]
Children3
Alma materUniversity of Toronto
OccupationSocial Worker

Cho holds a master's degree in Social Work and Doctorate in Education from the University of Toronto. He is married to Soon Ok, and has three adult sons: Raymond Jr., Ronald, and William.[2]

Municipal politics

He was first elected to Metropolitan Toronto Council for Scarborough-Malvern in 1991, and was re-elected in 1994. After the Scarborough and the other suburbs were amalgamated into the new City of Toronto, Cho was elected to the new council representing Scarborough-Malvern in 1997 along with Bas Balkissoon. In 2000, he was again re-elected, representing the new ward of Scarborough Rouge-River. He won re-election in 2003, 2006 and 2010.

On August 13, 2004, the Toronto Star reported that Cho spent nearly all of his allotted councillor expense fund, one of the highest on city council. While there was some speculation that some of this money was diverted to Cho's failed bid to run in the federal election campaign, his executive assistant said the money was needed for newsletters mailed out to constituents to provide information on a rash of fatal shootings in the Malvern neighbourhood earlier in the year.[3]

Cho was Chairman of the Toronto Zoo for two successive terms.

Federal politics

Cho was a New Democratic Party candidate for election to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1988 federal election and was initially identified as a New Democrat when he joined Metro Council, however, he soon became an ally and supporter of then Metropolitan Toronto Chairman Alan Tonks and dropped his NDP affiliation. He subsequently took out membership in the Liberal Party though, like most non-NDP municipal politicians in Ontario he did not run on a party label in municipal elections.

He ran in the 2004 federal election as an independent candidate in Scarborough—Rouge River. Cho called himself an "independent Liberal", and used the Liberal Party of Canada's red-and-white colours for his campaign materials. He was accused of trying to mislead voters by the official Liberal candidate, Derek Lee. Lee, who has been the MP since 1988 said that Cho caused some controversy by claiming to have been shut out of the candidate nomination process.[4] Lee won the election, Cho placed a distant second with 6,692 votes (17.8% of the total).

Provincial politics

In 2005, Cho expressed interest in being the Ontario Liberal Party's candidate in the Scarborough—Rouge River provincial by-election which was made necessary by the appointment of incumbent Liberal MPP Alvin Curling to a diplomatic position. However, the Liberal riding association used a clause of its constitution to declare another city councillor, Bas Balkissoon, as its candidate without a contested nomination process. Media reports suggested that this was done to exclude Cho as the provincial riding association was displeased with Cho's "independent Liberal" candidacy in the 2004 federal election.[5] Cho was also mentioned as a potential candidate for the Progressive Conservatives since he helped former leader John Tory during the March 2005 by-election in Dufferin—Peel—Wellington—Grey.[6] In the end, Cho chose not to run in the by-election which was won handily by Balkissoon.

In 2012, Cho was named as the Progressive Conservative candidate for the provincial riding of Scarborough—Rouge River.[7] In the 2014 provincial election, Cho placed third with 27.68% of the vote.

In 2016, Cho was nominated as the Progressive Conservative Party candidate for the September 1 by-election in Scarborough—Rouge River, after incumbent Liberal MPP Bas Balkissoon resigned to spend more time with family. Cho won the by-election in an upset victory,[8] becoming the first Korean-Canadian elected to the Ontario Legislature. Cho was handily reelected in 2018 in the new riding of Scarborough North, winning over half of the popular vote.

Election results

Scarborough—Rouge River

2004 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
LiberalDerek Lee22,56457.921.2
IndependentRaymond Cho6,96217.9
ConservativeTony Backhurst5,18413.32.7
New DemocraticFauzia Khan3,6359.3+4.4
GreenKathryn Holloway6101.5
Total valid votes 38,955100.0

Note: Conservative vote is compared to the total of the Canadian Alliance vote and Progressive Conservative vote in 2000 election.

1988 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes%
LiberalDerek Lee22,76747.1
Progressive ConservativeDoug Boswell18,17137.6
New DemocraticRaymond Cho6,58913.6
LibertarianSimon Harvey5131.1
GreenLois James2860.6
Total valid votes 48,326100.0

Scarborough North

2018 Ontario general election: Scarborough North
Party Candidate Votes%
Progressive ConservativeRaymond Cho17,41351.05
New DemocraticDwayne Morgan8,32024.39
LiberalChin Lee7,51922.04
GreenNicole Peltier5431.59
LibertarianSean Morgan3180.93
Total valid votes 34,113100.0  
Progressive Conservative pickup new district.
Source: Elections Ontario[9]

Scarborough—Rouge River

Ontario provincial by-election, September 1, 2016
Resignation of Bas Balkissoon
Party Candidate Votes%±%
Progressive ConservativeRaymond Cho9,64438.58+10.92
LiberalPiragal Thiru7,25728.919.79
New DemocraticNeethan Shan6,90527.403.91
IndependentQueenie Yu5752.32
GreenPriyan De Silva2160.860.51
LibertarianAllen Small1460.58
None of the AboveAbove Znoneofthe1330.540.42
FreedomWayne Simmons590.30
People's Political PartyDwight McLean450.22
PauperJohn Turmel370.15
TrilliumAnia Krosinska360.14
Total valid votes 25,182100.00
Progressive Conservative gain from Liberal Swing +10.36
2014 Ontario general election
Party Candidate Votes%±%
LiberalBas Balkissoon16,09538.713.17
New DemocraticNeethan Shan13,01931.314.66
Progressive ConservativeRaymond Cho11,50027.66+8.87
GreenGeorge B. Singh5711.37+0.12
None of the AboveAmir Khan3980.96
Total valid votes 41,583100.00
Total rejected, unmarked and declined ballots 4791.14
Turnout 42,06247.48
Eligible voters 88,592
Liberal hold Swing +0.75
Source: Elections Ontario[10]

Ward 42 (Scarborough—Rouge River)

2010 Toronto election, Ward 42
Candidate Votes[11] %
(x) Raymond Cho10,81152.93%
Neethan Shan6,87333.65%
Shamoon Poonawala5862.869%
Mohammed Ather4742.321%
Namu Ponnambalam4432.169%
Ruth Tecle4372.14%
George Singh3531.728%
Leon Saul3231.581%
Venthan Ramanathavavuniyan1250.612%
Total20,425100%
2006 Toronto election, Ward 42
Candidate Votes %
(x) Raymond Cho748052.2
Kumar Nadarajah368325.7
Mohammed Ather163911.4
Bonnie Irwin153210.7
2003 Toronto election, Ward 42
Candidate Votes %
(x) Raymond Cho8,30270.0
Paulette Senior3,31427.9
Akeem Fasasi2452.1
2000 Toronto election, Ward 42
Candidate Votes %
(x) Raymond Cho7,428
Eden Gajraj2,101
Horace Dockery1,890
Pat Johnson562
1997 Toronto election, Ward 18 - Scarborough Malvern (2 elected)
Candidate Votes %
(x) Raymond Cho11,190
Bas Balkissoon10,745
Edith Montgomery10,659
Jim Mackey2,621
Terry Singh1,812
Sinna Chelliah1,165
Jasmine Singh871
Arlanna Lewis666
George B. Singh339
1994 Toronto election, Scarborough Malvern
Candidate Votes %
(x) Raymond Cho10,272
Diamond Tobin-West3,382
Yaqoob Khan1,807
1991 Toronto election, Scarborough Malvern
Candidate Votes %
Raymond Cho5,283
(x) Bob Sanders3,977
Shan Rana1,321

(x) - incumbent

Cabinet positions

Ontario provincial government of Doug Ford
Cabinet post (1)
Predecessor Office Successor
Dipika Damerla Minister of Seniors and Accessibility
June 29, 2018 – present
Incumbent

References

  1. "About Raymond – Raymond Cho".
  2. "Raymond Cho - MPP, Scarborough-Rouge River". Ontario PC. Archived from the original on June 3, 2017.
  3. Catherine Porter. Cho biggest spender at city hall; $53,100 limit nearly spent Councillor ran in federal election. Toronto Star. August 13, 2004. Pg. F02.
  4. Ho Anderson. Rookies challenge Liberal MP. Toronto Star. June 19, 2004. Pg. H03.
  5. Urquhart, Ian (October 5, 2005). "Liberals play rough on by-election. Toronto Star". pressreader.com. Toronto Star.
  6. Robert Benzie. Twice bitten, McGuinty shy of vote; Curling's Scarborough riding considered a safe Liberal seat. Toronto Star. August 27, 2005. Pg F02.
  7. Alcoba, Natalie (18 December 2012). "Rob Ford critic Raymond Cho named as Ontario PC candidate for Scarborough-Rouge River". National Post.
  8. Benzie, Robert (September 1, 2016). "Tory Raymond Cho wins Scarborough-Rouge River byelection". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on June 3, 2017.
  9. "Summary of Valid Votes Cast for each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. p. 8. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  10. "Valid Votes Cast for Each Candidate" (PDF). Elections Ontario. April 1, 2015. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 6, 2015.
  11. Ulli S. Watkiss (October 28, 2010). "2010 Clerk's Official Declaration of Election Results" (PDF). City of Toronto. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 29, 2014.
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