Stephen Crawford (politician)

Stephen Crawford was born in Mississauga, Ontario, to his parents William and Diane Crawford. He grew up in Mississauga, the youngest of three children and attended Lorne Park Secondary School.

Crawford attended the University of Western Ontario to study political science, and then went to University of Toronto for business. After university he then went on to earn his Canadian Investment Manager (CIM) designation.

After completing his education, Crawford worked as a financial advisor at Midland Walwyn. He went on to become a senior executive and senior equity partner at Acuity Funds Ltd. The company became one of the fastest growing asset management firms in Canada, growing to almost $10 billion in managed assets. The company was acquired by AGF Management Ltd. in 2011. After Acuity, Crawford became a senior executive and helped transition and build O'Leary Funds LP before it was purchased by Canoe Financial in 2016.

Crawford resides in Oakville, Ontario, where he lives with his wife Najia and children. He is a member of the Oakville Chamber of Commerce, 100 Guys Who Care-Oakville, and the Royal Canadian Military Institute. He is also a vocal supporter of Plan Canada's "Because I am a Girl" campaign, which focuses on empowering young girls' rights to education, and health care globally.

Crawford is the great grand-nephew of famous Irish born Canadian writer, Isabella Valancy Crawford.

Crawford ran for the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario nomination in the summer of 2017, defeating his opponents in the second round of voting.

In the 2018 Ontario General Election, Crawford ran against Liberal candidate, and long time incumbent, Kevin Flynn. Also running in the election was, NDP candidate Lesley Sprague, Green Party candidate Emily De Sousa, and Libertarian Party candidate Spencer Oklobdzija.

Crawford beat Kevin Flynn in the election by 4510 votes, ending his 15-year tenure as Oakville's MPP.

On August 9, 2018, Crawford was named the chair of the Finance and Economic Affairs Committee.[2]

Crawford announced his first private members bill named, Safeguarding Our Information Act, 2018. The bill is also named Bill 55. The main purpose of Bill 55 is to prevent government institutions from access the private financial data of Ontario residents, without their expressly given consent. The bill is a reaction to the federal government inaction on the news of Statistics Canada proposing to access the financial records of 500,000 Canadians.

On June 26, 2019, Crawford was named the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Infrastructure.[3]

Crawford and MPP Triantafilopoulos were presented with keys to the town of Oakville on November 29, 2019, "for their work on the regional review process and strong representation of the voice of Oakville residents".[4]

• Ontario Legislative Assembly parliamentary history