Olivia Chow

Olivia Chow 鄒至蕙
Member of Parliament for Trinity—Spadina
Incumbent
Assumed office 2006 Federal Election
Preceded by	Tony Ianno
Personal details
Born	(1957-03-24) March 24, 1957 Hong Kong
Political party	NDP
Spouse	Jack Layton
Residence(s)	Toronto, Ontario
Profession	Politician

Olivia Chow (鄒至蕙, pinyin: Zōu Zhìhuì) (born March 24, 1957) is a social democratic Canadian Member of Parliament and former city councillor (1991-2005) in Toronto. Born in Hong Kong, Chow emigrated to Canada when she was thirteen years old and is fluent in two of her constituency's main languages, Cantonese and English. She won the Trinity—Spadina riding for the New Democratic Party on January 23 2006, becoming a member of the Canadian House of Commons. Chow is married to NDP leader Jack Layton.

Municipal career

Chow first became active in politics working with local NDP MP Dan Heap. With his support, she ran for school board trustee, and won in 1985. Popular on the school board, she was elected to Toronto city council in 1991. Ward 20 (Ward 24 from 1997-2006), in the riding of Trinity—Spadina, has long been home to a diverse group of communities in the core of Canada's largest urban centre. Chow was re-elected several times to city council by wide margins.

As city councilor, Chow was an advocate for the homeless, public transit, and many other urban issues that promote sustainable development. She was also been a vociferous opponent of the proposed Toronto Island Airport expansion, a controversial plan by the Toronto Port Authority that would increase air traffic over Ward 20.

Following the amalgamation of Metropolitan Toronto, she and her husband Jack Layton were prominent members of the city council. While sometimes critical of pro-development mayor Mel Lastman and other suburban councillors, they worked with councillors across political lines to achieve practical progressive measures. Layton left his seat on council to become federal leader of the NDP. Both were strong supporters of David Miller's successful 2003 campaign to become Mayor of Toronto.

Chow was forced to resign her position on the Toronto Police Services Board because, at a riot in front of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, she informally attempted to persuade police to change their tactics. Some argued, however, that she was ousted for her outspoken attitude towards alleged police misconduct.

Chow was renowned for her trademark bicycle, decorated with flowers and bright colours. She rode every day to Toronto City Hall, and carless commuting is consistent with her environmentalist values.

Chow was voted "Best City Councillor" on numerous occasions by Toronto's alternative weeklies Now Magazine and Eye Weekly.

Federal politics

In 1997, Chow ran as the New Democratic Party candidate for the Canadian House of Commons in Trinity—Spadina. Chow came close to defeating Liberal Party incumbent Tony Ianno.

In 2004, Chow again won the Trinity—Spadina NDP nomination for the summer federal election, giving her another chance to unseat Tony Ianno of the Liberal Party. Her other opponents primarily were David Watters of the Conservatives and Anna Costa of the Green party. With support from Jack Layton, a new urban focus of the NDP, and higher party popularity nationwide, she was widely expected to win despite some criticism from voters who elected her to a municipal seat just six months prior. She managed another strong second place showing, but failed to unseat Ianno by only 2% of the total vote.

Tactical voting was blamed partially for Chow's defeat, as the Liberal attack ads on Stephen Harper attempted to make the election a choice between the Liberals and Conservatives, with the effecting of attracting NDP-leaning voters to support the Liberals and stave off a potential Harper government. Chow also did not resign her council seat to run federally, with some suggesting that her constituents were able to vote Liberal and while still having Chow around to represent them.

When the Liberal federal government was defeated on a motion of non-confidence, Chow resigned her city council seat of fourteen years on November 28 2005 to making a third run at seat in the House of Commons. She was succeeded on city council on an interim basis Martin Silva. As Silva was not allowed to run for re-election, Chow's constituency assistant Helen Kennedy ran but lost to Adam Vaughan.

During the 2006 campaign, Mike Klander, an executive of the federal Liberal party's Ontario wing, made comments in his blog that described Chow as a Chow-Chow dog and called her husband Layton an asshole[1][2]. Layton denounced the comments as racist, and Klander apologized and resigned.

On January 23 2006, she won the Trinity—Spadina seat for the NDP in the federal election. She defeated Ianno by 3,667 votes, almost 6%. Along with Jack Layton she is part of only the second husband and wife team in Canadian parliamentary history. (Gurmant Grewal and Nina Grewal were the first, winning their seats in the 2004 election.)

Outside of politics

Chow championed the novel Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood in the 2005 edition of Canada Reads.

In 2005, she revealed that she had undergone surgery for thyroid cancer in 2004. She decided to speak out in order to raise awareness of the disease. [3]

External links

• Official website
• "One on one with: Olivia Chow" (Interview with Chatelaine magazine)
• Parliament Webpage