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| Affiliation | New Democratic |
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| <- |
2003-01-01 |
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| Name | Howard Hampton |
| Address |
Kenora, Ontario , Canada |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
May 17, 1952
(71 years)
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| Contributor | Monsieur |
| Last Modifed | Campari_007
Oct 31, 2020 01:11pm |
| Tags |
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| Info | Howard Hampton is the leader of the Ontario NDP. He has served in the Ontario Legislative Assembly since 1987 as the MPP from the northern riding of Kenora—Rainy River.
Hampton's wife, Shelley Martel, is also an MPP, representing Nickel Belt.
Hampton was born in Fort Frances, Ontario to a blue collar family. He was a good student, but also athletically gifted and politically active. He first joined the NDP when he was a teenager.
Hampton took an undergraduate degree in philosophy and religion from Dartmouth College, which he attended on a hockey scholarship. He later obtained a degree in education from the University of Toronto and a law degree from the University of Ottawa. He worked as a lawyer for the Canadian Labour Congress, and for the provincial NDP government of Allan Blakeney in Saskatchewan.
Hampton sought election to the Ontario legislature under the NDP banner in the 1977 provincial election, placing third against incumbent Liberal Pat Reid and PC Gordon Thomson in Rainy River. He ran for the riding again in the 1985 provincial election, and lost to Progressive Conservative candidate Jack Pierce by 278 votes.
Hampton was elected to Queen's Park on his third attempt, in the election of 1987. He was re-elected in the 1990 provincial election, in which the NDP won an unexpected majority government. On October 1, 1990, he was named Attorney General in the government of Bob Rae.
Hampton and Rae were not allies. Hampton disapproved of many of Rae's policies; in particular, he opposed Rae's decision to retreat from a pledge to introduce public auto insurance in the province. Journalist Thomas Walkom argued that Rae undermined Hampton's control over the Attorney General's office, staffing the ministry with bureaucrats to which he was ideologically incompatible. However, Hampton supported Rae's decision to impose a Social Contract of wage restraints and cost-saving measures on public servants.
In 1993, Hampton was demoted to Minister of Natural Resources. The NDP were defeated in the provincial election of 1995, and Hampton re-elected over PC Lynn Beyak by only 205 votes.
After Rae retired from provincial politics, Hampton became the leader of the NDP. He beat Frances Lankin, a Rae ally and the perceived front-runner, on the third ballot. Tony Silipo also ran for the leadership and would become Hampton's Deputy Leader until 1999.
In the 1999 Ontario election, some progressives and union leaders, a crucial source of NDP support before 1995, attempted to defeat Mike Harris, the PC premier, by abandoning the NDP for the Liberals. This tactical voting did not succeed in ousting the Harris government, but nearly decimated the NDP as they took just nine seats and 12% of the popular vote in their poorest election showing in decades. Hampton was not judged to have been at fault and stayed on as leader.
Hampton endorsed Bill Blaikie in his unsuccessful bid for the federal NDP leadership in 2002. This decision was unpopular with some other members of his caucus, including Deputy Leader Marilyn Churley who was a leading supporter of eventual winner Jack Layton.
In Harris' second term, the government unveiled plans to privatize the public electricity utility, Ontario Hydro. Hampton quickly distinguished himself as a passionate advocate of maintaining public ownership of the utility, and published a book on the subject, Public Power, in 2003. Harris' successor as premier, Ernie Eves, ultimately backed down on selling the hydro utility.
Hampton and the NDP won only seven seats in the 2003 Ontario election, losing official party status. However, Hampton held his seat and the party won a larger share of the popular vote than it had in 1999. After intense lobbying to lower the minimum number of seats for party status, a compromise was reached which allowed additional funding for the NDP and more inquiry opportunities during Question Period.
On May 13, 2004, the NDP regained party status in a by-election in Hamilton East, where city councillor Andrea Horwath was elected to fill the vacancy left by the death of Liberal MPP Dominic Agostino. They have won several by-elections since then as well.
The pressure will be on Hampton to translate the NDP's recent resurgence into more seats in the next provincial election.
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